BURLINGTON (VT)
VTDigger [Montpelier VT]
May 12, 2025
By Kevin O'Connor
The submissions come after 67 previous child sex abuse lawsuits prompted the state’s largest religious denomination to pay out $34.5 million in settlements and push for bankruptcy protection.
Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese, now seeking to reorganize its depleting finances in U.S. Bankruptcy Court after settling 67 priest misconduct lawsuits, is bracing for a new wave of child sex abuse claims.
The state’s largest religious denomination paid out $34.5 million to survivors in the two decades between when news of a nationwide scandal broke in 2002 and its filing for Chapter 11 protection last fall.
As part of the bankruptcy process, all pending and future lawsuits have been placed on hold, with Judge Heather Cooper inviting accusers who haven’t reported abuse before to join the case as potential creditors.
As a result, 118 people have submitted confidential claims, records show — almost double the number of previously settled lawsuits.
The bankruptcy court doesn’t have the authority to hold hearings on any of the allegations, which are sealed from the public and the press. Instead, the judge has scheduled a non-evidentiary “presentation of survivor statements” for Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Burlington’s Federal Building.
“For many survivors, it took years and a lot of courage to come forward, so when the diocese filed for bankruptcy, it robbed those survivors of their opportunity to stand in front of a jury of their peers,” said Brittany Michael, a lawyer for a federally appointed committee representing creditors with abuse claims.
“We know that the opportunity to speak in court can be an important part of the healing journey,” Michael said. “The survivors’ statements are a way to at least tell their story.”
The diocese, facing allegations of priest misconduct dating as far back as 1950, is the nation’s 40th Catholic entity to seek bankruptcy protection, it notes on an explainer page on its website.
Under federal law, the diocese must present the court with a tally of its financial assets and liabilities and petition for Chapter 11 help. The judge, in turn, will decide whether to allow church leaders to develop a reorganization plan that would require approval from both the court and creditors.
Seeking “full disclosure and transparency,” abuse claimants are seeking church records detailing not only a reported $35 million tied to the diocese’s headquarters and its state-level holdings but also all the community operations it oversees, starting with 63 parishes with an estimated collective worth of $500 million.
The resulting findings are expected to spark future debate on whether abuse claimants and other creditors will be limited to compensation from the church’s headquarters or also could be reimbursed through local assets.