Catholic dioceses declare bankruptcy on eve of sexual abuse trials

UNITED STATES
Reveal News

By Amy Julia Harris / February 2, 2015

The Rev. Thomas Stitts was known within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis as a priest who molested boys.

But three civil trials on abuse that were supposed to start a week ago never did. Instead, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy, becoming the 12th Roman Catholic diocese in the last decade to declare bankruptcy amid a wave of clergy abuse lawsuits.

Stretching from Delaware to Alaska, these bankruptcy proceedings often have taken years to hammer out, as the church and victims negotiate the terms of how much victims should be compensated. The payouts to victims have been in the millions of dollars – in San Diego, the diocese paid more than $198 million to 144 abuse victims, the largest clergy sexual abuse settlement to date.

Bankruptcies can help to bring order to chaos, says Pamela Foohey, an associate professor at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. They ensure that hundreds of lawsuits become more manageable and that all victims get paid – not just those who file cases early.

But victim advocates and attorneys say churches that declare insolvency often do it for a less noble purpose. They say it has become a go-to move for dioceses to stop damaging trials and avoid putting church officials on the witness stand.

“Bankruptcies don’t protect kids,” said victims attorney Patrick Noaker, whose suit against Stitts was supposed to go to trial last week. “Trials and disclosures do.”

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