KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
May 31, 2018
By Brian Roewe
A $210 million settlement has been reached in the bankruptcy of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, what attorneys for more than 400 survivors of clergy sexual abuse are calling the “largest settlement ever reached in a Catholic bankruptcy case.”
At a press conference in his St. Paul office May 31, Jeff Anderson, attorney for abuse victims, announced that a consensual agreement was reached late Wednesday night, essentially concluding an often contentious process begun nearly three and half years ago.
Anderson used a red Sharpie marker to write the final sum on a white easel pad of paper: $210,290,724.
That total represents more than triple the archdiocese’s initial proposed plan of $65 million, and $50 million more than its most recent proposal. The settlement, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kressel, will resolve all litigation against the archdiocese and its parishes and other entities related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. A trust fund, headed by an independent trustee, would be responsible for distributing payments among 450 abuse survivors.
“This has been a long day coming,” said Jim Keenan, an abuse survivor and chair of the creditors’ committee. “It’s a triumph … an absolute triumph.”
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