Victims receive $21 million as judge approves Milwaukee archdiocese bankruptcy

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki at a news conference in 2011. (Associated Press)

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wisconsin today won court approval for a plan to emerge from bankruptcy four years after it was swamped by compensation claims filed by victims of sexual abuse committed by predator priests.

The bankruptcy plan, negotiated over several years, will provide $21 million for 355 people who filed complaints and establish a $500,000 fund for counseling. As the molestation scandal began to engulf the Catholic Church in the United States more than ten years ago, Milwaukee emerged as one of the most implicated major dioceses along notably with Boston and Philadelphia.

The crisis rocked congregations as it became clear that rather than being just a very few, the priests who had preyed on young people, often young boys, in fact numbered in the hundreds. It also became apparent that some at the very top of the church leadership had been helping to cover up their crimes by shuffling them from parish to parish or sometimes putting them on “sick leave” without explanation.

The legal costs of defending the church and paying settlements triggered a slow unraveling of the finances of several archdiocese, which in turn has led to a selling off of traditional church assets like schools and the closing of churches and merging of parishes. Congregations have also shrunk.

Today’s decision approving the Milwaukee bankruptcy plan was handed down by Judge Susan Kelly. The package also promises $2,000 each to an additional 104 people who claimed to have suffered abuse, a sum that was certain to be criticised as paltry.

An emotional day also saw a statement of contrition from Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “No amount of money can ever restore what was taken from abuse survivors,” he said. “In some way, we hope that we are turning a corner on a terrible part of our history and embarking on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love. This era of our past will live on, but we also look forward to the future as a better church. And we are a better church because of the courage of those who have come forward.”

Archbishop Listecki succeeded Father Tim Dolan in early 2010. In spite of the gathering disaster in Wisconsin, Father Dolan went from Archdiocesan palace in Milwaukee to take over as Archbishop of New York, where he remains today.

“We remember those who have been harmed; keeping them in our prayers and supporting them and working diligently to ensure this can never happen again,” Listecki said. “We can’t change the past, but what’s important is that together we reached an agreement to bring this proceeding to a close."