The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington,Delaware, won court permission to pay people who were sexuallyabused by priests $77.4 million to win protection from futurelawsuits and end its bankruptcy case.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Wilmingtonsaid today that he would approve the diocese’s reorganizationplan after lawyers for the church and the victims work out thefinal wording of a court order he can sign.
The plan was designed to compensate about 150 abuse victimswhose molestation claims stretch back to the 1960s and to imposean outside review of all church policies, from the education ofits priests to how it runs its schools.
Sontchi will hold ahearing later this afternoon where he said he will sign an orderapproving the reorganization plan, assuming the final changesdon’t contradict any of the rulings he has made in the case.
Some victims may never fully regain confidence in thechurch, attorney James Stang, who represented a committee ofabuse victims, said in court.
“Anyone who thinks this case provides some kind ofreconciliation does not understand the nature of the abuse theywent through,” Stang said.
In 2009, the Delaware diocese became one of at least sevenRoman Catholic entities in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy tosettle lawsuits from current and former parishioners.
The bankruptcy case is In re Catholic Diocese of WilmingtonInc., 09-13560, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware(Wilmington).
No comments:
Post a Comment