Posted on 03/03/2017 2:58:29 PM PST by Jyotishi
A Catholic diocese in Minnesota filed for bankruptcy on Friday, joining more than a dozen other U.S. Catholic districts and religious orders driven to seek protection from creditors by the church's clergy sex abuse scandal.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm, which is southwest of Minneapolis, said in a statement it will use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its finances and produce a plan to pay creditors.
The rural diocese is defending 101 lawsuits involving alleged sex abuse by clergy mostly from the 1950s through the 1970s. Minnesota had lifted the civil statute of limitations for a period of three years ending May 25, 2016, allowing claims from prior decades to be brought.
"It is unknown how long this will take, but we seek to complete the reorganization process as promptly and efficiently as possible," the diocese said.
Bishop John LeVoir in a statement said reorganization would allow the diocese "to fulfill its obligation, as much as possible, to victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse of minors, while continuing to carry out its ministry."
Bankruptcy provides a way for debtors and creditors to resolve claims. The broader work within the Catholic Church of rooting out sex abuse is being overseen by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, set up by Pope Francis in 2014.
The diocese is the third in Minnesota to file for bankruptcy in recent years over claims of clergy sex abuse.
Reports of sex abuse by priests and coverups by the Catholic hierarchy exploded in U.S. media in 2002 and have pushed prominent dioceses like Milwaukee's into bankruptcy and have led to about $3 billion in settlements.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Also, Hillary Clinton must be prosecuted.
Known as the most “progressive” diocese in the US for many years. See “Bishop Raymond Alphonse Lucker” for details.
Religions are seldom destroyed from without. The Catholic coverups are doing quite nicely. When the endemic abuse came to light the only chance was to burn it out, turn pedophile priests over to the police and clean house. Now the Church may get sued out of existence. Not for the sex abuse but for the program of protecting the pedophiles to avoid the scandal. People never learn.
The claims of the sex abuse victims may not be dischargeable in bankruptcy, if the victims can show the conduct of the diocese was willful and malicious. Malice is a pretty high standard to meet, but they might yet prove it.
That’s ok. The “Pope” wants to help out the abusers. http://www.voanews.com/a/pope-trims-sanctions-for-some-pedophile-priets-seeking-mercy/3740329.html
I left the Catholic Church over 30 years ago precisely because they refused to expunge the pedophiles and protected them instead.
They would move priests into suspecting parishes when they were accused of wrongdoing instead of turning them into the police.
When they moved a known pedophile into our parish it was the last straw.
Now that they have a Marxist fake Pope who is pardoning pedophiles, I know I made the right choice.
UNsuspecting parishes
One thing I am glad is we will not have this issue in my Archdiocese in Texas. This is largely due to state law. If the Cardinal was to try to shelter any pedophile he’d go to jail as well.
The catholics will never let you leave. When I was 10 my mother forced me to go to a catholic church where a child molester jammed a cracker and some wine down my throat while babbling a bunch of nonsense in an extinct language. According to catholics, this makes me a catholic for life, even though I had no idea what was going on and I had no say in the matter. Catholics can think what they want, but I am not a catholic and I consider their church to be Satan's church.
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