MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
Martin Moylan Jan 15, 2015
File bankruptcy? It’s the big money question facing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
With more than a dozen alleged victims of clergy sex abuse suing the archdiocese, three suits set for trial in a few weeks and worries about the cost of future, unknown claims, Chapter 11 could be a logical, if painful, next step — an orderly process to decide payments for current and future claims. It would also halt the coming trials.
Church leaders have said they’re weighing bankruptcy as they face huge potential costs tied to clergy abuse. They won’t say if any decision is imminent, though in November archdiocese chief financial officer Thomas Mertens called bankruptcy protection “a way to respond to all victims/survivors by allowing the available funds to be equitably distributed to all who have made claims…”
The best case, arguably, for the archdiocese would be a pre-negotiated bankruptcy, where key players agree on critical issues in advance. Church leaders, abuse victims, insurers and an army of attorneys would have to settle on how much money is on the table and who’s going to get it.
History, though, suggests that’s unlikely. A bankruptcy here is likely to resemble most church bankruptcies: bitter, contentious, costly and dragging on for at least two to three years.
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