NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU [New Orleans]
August 12, 2025
By Erin Lowrey
A plan to resolve the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ yearslong bankruptcy case will now go to a vote by sex abuse survivors.
On Tuesday, the disclosure statement submitted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans was approved by the bankruptcy court, officially allowing the voting period to open for the plan.
The proposed plan, which outlines how the archdiocese plans to potentially pay a settlement to an estimated 660 sex abuse survivors who have filed claims in the case, will head to a vote by abuse survivors.
Sex abuse survivors who filed claims should receive a ballot in the mail this month and must return it before Oct. 29 with their vote, according to the proposed plan.
Votes will be tabulated over the course of a week.
If it is approved, the plan could go into effect by the end of the year. If it is rejected, the judge could toss the case.
The plan settlement proposes the following compensation for sex abuse survivors:
- $130 million in committed cash funding to be paid by the archdiocese and its affiliates into a settlement trust on the effective date of the plan;
- A $20 million promissory note from the archdiocese, which will be prepaid upon a sale of Christopher Homes, Inc.’s senior housing facilities;
- Approximately $30 million from insurance companies, which have reached settlements to date;
- The prospect of additional recoveries in 2026 (estimated to exceed $40 million) from the sale of the Christopher Homes, Inc. 15 senior living facilities, currently marketed by a national firm;
- Substantial additional recoveries from abuse litigation against Travelers Insurance Company, which insured the archdiocese during the time period in which many of the abuse claims occurred;
- Importantly, unprecedented child protection measures and transparency into the history of abuse in the archdiocese.
According to a news release issued by attorneys for the Survivors Committee, the plan also requires the archdiocese and its archbishop to implement new binding child protection protocols.
Those protocols include:
- Overhauls the handling of reports of sexual abuse to notify law enforcement, standards for investigation of claims, documentation of all communications and regular information to the survivor, and removal of the accused perpetrator from ministry;
- Provides for outside oversight to ensure compliance with the protocols, including a survivor seat on the Internal Review Board that reviews claims of clergy abuse, and an outside child abuse prevention expert to review and monitor all child protection policies and practices;
- Adopts a Survivors Bill of Rights that requires that survivors be treated with dignity and respect, provides resources for counseling and other services, and provides survivors with a direct line of communication to the Archbishop to complain about mistreatment;
- Creates a public archive of thousands of pages of documents related to abuse claims that, up until now, have been kept secret.
If the plan is approved, claims made by sex abuse survivors will be reviewed before payments will be decided.
Each claim will be scored by a point system, and settlement totals will vary by survivor.
The Survivors Committee will host online town hall meetings on Sept. 12, Sept. 24, and Oct. 20 to provide information for survivors.
WDSU spoke with James Stang, whose California-based firm represents the court-appointed committee of survivors in the church bankruptcy case.
“This settlement provides accountability for how the church failed children,” James Stang said. “This settlement provides protection for children in the future.”
Stang said that the goal is to achieve three things for survivors.
“If the settlement is not accepted by survivors and by the court, then she—Judge Grabill—has told us this case will be dismissed. No ifs, ands or buts. So what we try to achieve in the settlement was three things. Accountability. The church must be held accountable for the tragedy that occurred to survivors, not just what happened to them as children, but how it has affected their entire adult lives. So that was number one. Accountability. Second. Protection for children going forward. One of the primary goals of every survivor I’ve ever talked to, and I have been representing survivors in bankruptcy cases for over 20 years. And then the third is fair compensation.”
Stang said survivors want to make sure what happened to them doesn’t happen again to another child.
“So going back to accountability, one of the things that the diocese has agreed to, the archdiocese has agreed to is a public archive that will be administered by an academic institution that will contain all of the documents related to the history of abuse in the Archdiocese. It is a huge accomplishment. So we think that checks that box,” said Stang.
Stang said negotiations for the child protection protocols took over a year to accomplish.
“ In my experience, the most significant child protection measures that has ever been done for any archdiocese in the country. The archdiocese will be bound by these protections. There are people who oppose the settlement and say, that’s not true. They’re not reading the document. We will have a court-appointed trustee enforcing these protections. And most importantly, we have Judge Grabill. She has repeatedly said that to her, this is the most significant thing that this bankruptcy can accomplish. Which is measures to protect children in the future,” said Stang.
As for the fair compensation, Stang does not believe this could be accomplished for survivors if the case is dismissed.
“There are a lot of people out there saying the compensation isn’t fair. It’s not enough. It will never be enough. The legal system will not give you the kind of money that can address your what happened to you, because no amount of money can,” said Stang. “You’re not going to have 650 lawsuits heard all at one time, as best as the court system may try. And we are absolutely convinced that if the numbers come in big on the first or second trials, the archdiocese will file bankruptcy again.”
According to Stang, the New Orleans court system can’t handle 650 lawsuits all at one, and without the settlement, many may never get compensation.
“Maybe attorneys are saying get the case dismissed. Have a few favored clients that they think should go first or second. But what about the other 100 that they have? What are they telling them about when their cases will be able to go to trial, and what moneys they will be able to collect?”
Stang also reassured survivors that having the case tossed could not ensure their stories would be heard.
“People have said we want this case dismissed because we can then go to our clients who can then go to court and tell their story. Well, Judge Grabill has said that part of the plan approval process in her courtroom will be a public opportunity for survivors to tell her and the community what happened to them. So if anyone has any doubts about whether their story can be told, Judge Grabill has said it will be told.”
WDSU asked Stang about the level of compensation each survivor could get as well as the point system that will be used to determine payouts.
“There is a point system which is laid out in the documents that survivors will get. That explains how this process will work. And so it’s impossible to say today what someone will receive if they were touched under their clothing,” said Stang. “ One can use averages. One needs to talk to their attorney. But it is certain compensation, not the shot in the dark that trials bring you.”
WDSU also asked Stang how parishes would be impacted by the settlement.
“We have as a committee of survivors have not focused on the effects that this will have on the day-to-day basis for parishioners and the faithful. That is Archbishop Aymond’s job,” said Stang.
Stang believes the settlement is the best option for sex abuse survivors.
“This is going to help people in a way that they never imagined in their lives would happen. We’ve got people elderly. We have people who are sick. We have people who are sick mentally and physically. They need a resolution of the legal aspect of their abuse experience, and we hope it will help,” said Stang. “We hope it will facilitate for them the ability to reach resolution on a psychological and physical basis.”
Stang emphasized that survivors should consider what they want, and not what their attorneys want.
“This is a better resolution for survivors than going back to state court and trying to get a court system to handle 650 separate child sexual abuse lawsuits,” said Stang. That would be those cases would last beyond our lifetime. They really would with appeals and everything else. So people have to think about what they want, not what the lawyers want, what they want.”
WDSU asked Stang why the church made releasing documents tied to the sex abuse cases part of the negotiations of the settlement instead of making them public now.
“I wish the archdiocese would do that they tied the production of the documents and the child protection measures to approval of the plan,” said Stang. “That was not something that we wanted, but it was something we had to accept.”
Those representing sex abuse survivors not part of the Survivors Committee say the case should be tossed, and survivors should be allowed to individually try their cases against the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Soren Gisleson, an attorney representing survivors in the case, said some survivors have been shut out of the settlement process entirely and have been excluded.
If the case is tossed, the Archdiocese of New Orleans could file for bankruptcy again.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued the following statement regarding the settlement:
“Today the Federal Bankruptcy Court orally approved moving forward with the Reorganization Plan and Disclosure statement filed jointly by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, additional debtors, and the Official Committee for Unsecured Creditors (UCC). From here, solicitation packets will be prepared and sent to all those who have filed a claim in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’s bankruptcy case. We are pleased with this progress and will continue to work hard to bring this to resolution.”
The settlement needs a two-thirds vote from sex abuse survivors to move forward.