MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley on Monday confirmed the Archdiocese of Milwaukee reorganization plan, marking a milestone in the longest-running and most contentious of the 14 Catholic Church bankruptcies filed since 2004 to address sexual abuse liabilities going back decades.
“I hope a page can be turned,” Kelley said at the end of the approximately two-hour hearing, “that there will be some peace for survivors and the archdiocese can go back to its important ministries.”
There was no sense of celebration among the many parties packing the courtroom — more a sense of relief, resignation and some bitterness that the proceedings were over, more than four years after the archdiocese filed for protection and three months after the outline of the plan was announced.
The bankruptcy plan will pay about $21 million to survivors — of which their own lawyers will take a share — and set up a $500,000 fund for continued therapy.
An additional $8 million will pay the archdiocese’s legal fees plus those of the creditors’ committee. That’s on top of about $12 million already paid out. Two dozen attorneys appeared before Kelley on Monday.
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