NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU [New Orleans LA]
September 15, 2026
By Erin Lowrey
A new court filing claims the Archdiocese of New Orleans is not meeting certain nonmonetary obligations under its bankruptcy settlement with clergy sexual-abuse survivors.
Donald Massey, the settlement trustee, raises several concerns in his latest filing.
“ANO flatly refuses to conduct IRB investigations of the alleged perpetrators,” Massey alleges in the filing.
“It is believed that some of these clergy are still alive. Yet somehow, these individuals have not been investigated or added to the list,” the filing alleges.
As part of the court-approved settlement plan, the Archdiocese agreed to new child-protection measures and changes to how it handles reports of sexual abuse. Those provisions include reporting and investigation protocols, outside oversight, survivor protections and the creation of a public document archive. The filing says that archive is not yet publicly available, although the Archdiocese has begun providing documents to LSU for review and preparation, records show.
Massey also accuses the Archdiocese of failing to demonstrate transparency or a change in institutional culture:
“ANO flatly refuses to conduct IRB investigations of the alleged perpetrators,” the document alleges.
In the document it is also alleged “ANO is not demonstrating transparency nor a culture of change. Finally, it is morally repugnant and unconscionable to allow ANO to continue to suppress identities of credibly accused abusers, as has been the case for decades.”
A follow up conference at federal court is set for this week.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued the following statement regarding the allegations made in Massey’s filing:
“Archbishop Checchio and archdiocesan leadership work tirelessly everyday to honor our commitments to survivors and to keep children entrusted to our ministries safe. We continue to implement the nonmonetary provisions and in many cases are doing more than agreed upon in these provisions. We are surprised by the tone of the trustee’s report and confused by the apparent misunderstandings included in the report.
“Archbishop Checchio continues to meet regularly with individual survivors upon their request. What he hears often are concerns about the delay in payments and processes of the trust.
“In regards to the Settlement Trustee’s assertions that we are not investigating claims against clergy, this is a misrepresentation of the facts. All living archdiocesan clergy named in a proof of claim have been presented to the IRB or are still under investigation for presentation to the IRB for its recommendation on suitability for ministry. Furthermore, Archbishop Checchio has ordered a review of all deceased archdiocesan clergy named in a proof of claim to be presented to the IRB. That process is already underway.
“The nonmonetary provisions require a written request directly from the survivor for an investigation into his or her accused so as to avoid retraumatizing the survivor through unsolicited contact from the archdiocese. The archdiocese welcomes these requests directly from a survivor of abuse.
“Under Archbishop Checchio, any allegation of sexual abuse is reported to law enforcement. The archdiocese continues to wait for the Settlement Trust Advisory Committee to provide the required written consent from each survivor so that we may in turn provide law enforcement unredacted proofs of claim which include individual contact information of the survivor and the description of his or her abuse.
“We encourage anyone who is interested in our ongoing work to read our June 2026 Semiannual Compliance Report which can be found online at https://nolacatholic.org/renew.”