NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU [New Orleans LA]
December 8, 2025
By Aubry Killion
The Archdiocese of New Orleans’ yearslong bankruptcy has officially ended.
Judge Meredith Grabill heard from church leaders, sex abuse survivors, and insurance companies over the course of two weeks and formally approved the $230 million settlement on Monday.
Last week testimony wrapped up with Grabill taking the weekend to come to her final decision on the settlement.
Attorneys for the Archdiocese said money for survivors will be ready before Dec. 31.
Nearly 150 parishes and charities will contribute approximately $65 million to the settlement fund for clergy sex abuse survivors.
The diocese will also pay about $28 million with an interest rate of a little more than 4% over 12 years to bondholders, as well as pay a portion of additional fees.
Payouts will be specific to sex abuse claims and based on a point system.
The accepted plan would pay settlements to an estimated 600 claimants in 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 $70 million sale of Christopher Homes. Christopher Homes offers affordable housing and will stay as affordable housing.
- Tredway has reached an agreement to purchase Christopher Homes and maintain the 15 apartment complexes as affordable housing for about 1,700 low-income older adults.
- Approximately $30 million from insurance companies, which have reached settlements to date
- Substantial additional recoveries from abuse litigation against Travelers Insurance Co., 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
Sex abuse survivors’ claims will be reviewed before payments are decided.
Once the settlement is over, records associated with abuse claims will be released and housed at LSU in Baton Rouge.
Aubry Killion Investigative Reporter