“Chapter 11 is not supposed to be a vehicle, a method, to hammer down the claims of those abused.”
JUDGE LOUISE DeCARL ADLER
on the diocese filing for bankruptcy
JUDGE LOUISE DeCARL ADLER
on the diocese filing for bankruptcy
Posted on 11/03/2007 7:05:59 AM PDT by NYer
The San Diego Catholic diocese's eight-month-old bankruptcy case drew to an emotional close yesterday with the judge shedding tears and scolding the church for being “disingenuous” in reporting its finances to parishioners as part of a campaign to fund a $198 million settlement with victims of sexual abuse.
“Chapter 11 is not supposed to be a vehicle, a method, to hammer down the claims of those abused.”
JUDGE LOUISE DeCARL ADLER on the diocese filing for bankruptcy |
Judge Louise DeCarl Adler said she had planned to grant the diocese's request to dismiss the bankruptcy without comment. But then she got a packet in the mail from her former parish asking to help pay the settlement.
The mailing, which was recently sent to parishioners in the diocese, included a financial breakdown she said was less than candid.
Adler said there is ample property the church could sell or mortgage to fund the settlement, citing parking lots, houses and other holdings listed in court documents.
The diocese could have settled the claims without seeking bankruptcy, she added. “Chapter 11 is not supposed to be a vehicle, a method, to hammer down the claims of those abused,” she said.
Moments before delivering her rebuke yesterday, Adler was moved to tears by several victims who stepped forward to thank her for her work.
Rodrigo Valdivia, a diocese spokesman, said church officials were disappointed by Adler's comments and called the financial breakdown accurate. “It is not disingenuous,” he said.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed its Chapter 11 case Feb. 27, hours before the first abuse trial was to start. Bishop Robert Brom said bankruptcy protection was needed to continue the church's work while trying to compensate men and women sexually abused by priests and church workers when they were minors.
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“The diocese had enough assets to pay the fair settlement value of the claims,” he said.
The diocese settled outside bankruptcy court Sept. 7, agreeing to pay $198 million to 144 victims. Under the settlement, the payouts would be made in two installments next year.
Last month, the diocese launched Embracing Our Mission, a campaign to raise $25 million from Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties to help pay for the settlement.
Adler does not object to Catholics being asked to contribute. “I think it's a good thing to do,” she said. But she said she was troubled that the financial breakdown was “lacking candor.”
An analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune found the Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego holds title to more than 420 properties in the county. The bishop is also listed on dozens of other properties in Imperial and other counties.
In its battle through bankruptcy court, the diocese insisted that the 98 parishes were separate and could not be counted as assets, though the point was never resolved.
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The other half includes vacant residential parcels, single-family residences, multiple-unit buildings, condominiums, vacant parcels zoned for commercial or industrial use, stores and parking lots.
The bulk of the assets that are not churches, schools or cemetery property is assessed at about $115 million by the San Diego County Assessor's Office.
But that is only a fraction of the properties' market value, said Gary London, a San Diego real-estate economist.
“The market here doubled in the 1980s and has doubled again in the past seven years. So you can multiply many of these assessed values by a factor of at least four to get the fair market value,” he said.
Applying that multiplier, London said, the diocese “conservatively holds properties (in San Diego County) with a market value well in excess of $1 billion.”
“(Church officials) can easily get loans against these assets to satisfy this settlement,” London said.
A statement from the diocese yesterday defended the Embracing Our Mission campaign.
“It is based on an accurate analysis of actual diocesan assets without confusing these with assets that do not belong to the diocese,” said a statement sent to pastors and church staff.
San Diego is the fifth and largest diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy. None of the others has asked parishioners and priests to directly contribute to settlements of sexual-abuse cases, said Charles Zech, an economics professor who has followed the clergy-abuse crisis from Villanova University, a Catholic school near Philadelphia.
However, in the Tucson and Spokane, Wash., bankruptcy settlements, Zech said, parishes were required to contribute and it was up to each to decide how to raise the money.
Zech, who noted that selling property other than churches, schools and cemeteries is “the first thing the diocese should do,” has polled 1,000 Catholics nationwide who regularly attend Mass about their willingness to fund abuse settlements.
His most recent poll, in 2005, found that 44 percent favored a diocesanwide collection like that proposed by Brom; 38 percent preferred a sale of church property; and 33 percent backed cuts in programs to make up the shortfall after insurance funds are exhausted.
The big list: Female teachers with students
Most comprehensive account on Internet of women predators on campus
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53859
The Very Reverand Bishop Bernard "Bunny" Law comes to mind. Even after the scandal broke in Boston and his extensive role in the cover up was disclosed he was wisked off to a Vatican hideout where he is holed up to this day beyond the reach of US law.
If anyone cares to explain what the difference is between this behavior by the rcc and say the union corse or mafia when they stash a capo away please feel free to enlighten this forum.
This is just unbelievable to me. Pray for the children.
I haven't seen that high of a statistic. Please provide the source.
US clerics accused of abuse from 1950-2002: 4,392.
195 dioceses in the US would equal less than 23 per diocese over 52 yrs, which would be .433136 per diocese per year.
Any amount is unacceptable but so are lies and mischaractarization.
Those are just the ones who got caught.
Here’s agood source on every aspect of the sex scandal in the Catholic Church:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/102/story_10276_1.html
This article quotes a number of 11,000 p[riests:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/141/story_14120_1.html
And you know this how????????????
Well, I got my info from your 1st link but you don’t like that link anymore and if 2 articles can be so different who is right? I think if you are the one making the claims then it is up to you to give the facts and support them.
Anyhow, that still makes 56 rather than 200 per diocese over a 52 yr period. So your first assertion is still wrong.
Most of those abused never came forward out of shame; many who came forward did so ten or twenty or more years after the abuse. By then, many of the accused priests were dead (and hopefully receiving their just punishments.)
The nearly 11,000 figure quoted in the article above explains all this.
Another good source is SNAP.org.
Here’s the updated link for SNAP(Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests):
Sorry, but I don’t have time right now to do research for you, but the links I gave are a start.
What happened was wrong and I don’t doubt that a lot of people who were abused never came forward but you talk like you know a lot about it and expect me to take your word for it. I expect some evidence if you are going to make assertions.
200 priests over 50 years for each Diocese....do the math.
Go back to my original post: I said 200 priests per Diocese. I did NOT say 200 per Diocese per year.
Thousands of young lives disrupted by these pigs; thousands of young souls corrupted. Dozens of suicides.
The facts are out there on trial transcripts; settlements by the Dioceses; other factual documents.
It can no longer be swept under the rug, so don’t even try.
Um, my handy dandy $1 calculator tells me that that would be 39,000.
If you are saying that you KNOW there were an average of 200 in each diocese then you must give the facts and not your assertions. If you are sticking to your 11,000, I would suggest that you hurry yourself down to the dollar store and get your own calculator.
Oh yes, please, make unsubstatiated exagerations and then get mad when someone asks for proof and not just assertions. If you read the post that you responded to which was not addressed to you, you will see what I think about it.
But if it makes you feel superior, stay on your high horse, I don’t care.
I don’t often do this but then I actually read the second sentence! I respectfully request that this post be removed and I would even ask that this person be banned for a time!
There's no warrant out for his arrest in the US. He hasn't been indicted on any charge.
He's "beyond the reach of US law" exactly as much as any other American expatriate. Last time I checked, the government has to actually indict someone in order to extradite them from a foreign country.
You do believe that even Catholic priests deserve due process of law, don't you? Good, then take it up with the DA in Boston if you have evidence that would lead to an indictment.
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