One of the co-chairmen of the committee representing the 156 claimants in the Diocese of Davenport’s bankruptcy says there were no intentions of suing individual parishes for sex abuse allegations, calling the diocese’s assertion that several Catholic entities would be sued “misleading.”Furthermore, the insurance company, Travelers, not the diocese, insisted on protecting all Catholic entities from liability for abuse that happened before October 2006, the filing of the bankruptcy.
“If lawsuits were filed against parishes, they most certainly would have been against every parish in which abuse occurred, that would be in over 60 percent of the parishes in the diocese,” said Mike Uhde, co-chairman of the committee. “The committee had no intentions of suing the parishes, for that would mean targeting the parishioners who are as much victims in this matter as those the committee represents.”
Meanwhile, Uhde said, “the diocese was willing, until the very end of the negotiations, to let the parishes fend for themselves.”
Uhde’s statement came on the heels of a diocesan statement Thursday detailing why four parishes will contribute $2.9 million to the $37 million settlement between the diocese, its insurance company and the claimants.
St. Anthony’s and Sacred Heart in Davenport will provide $1 million a piece.
St. Mary’s in Iowa City will provide $650,000.
Our Lady of Lourdes in Bettendorf will make an undisclosed contribution, believed to be approximately $250,000.
The diocese took the position during bankruptcy negotiations that parishes are separate legal entities, specifically their own legal corporations with their own title to real estate.
The claimants, meanwhile, argued that the parishes could be considered under the control of the bishop and therefore considered in the calculation of assets.
Uhde noted that the bishop serves as the chairman of each entity’s board, the vicar general is the vice chairman and the priest is the secretary.
“Whatever the bishop wants to happen in an individual parish happens even if the laity disagrees,” Uhde said. “The parish priest is sworn to obedience at ordination and therefore must do whatever the bishop tells him to do.”
On Thursday, the diocese announced it agreed to pay $5.5 million more in its $37 million bankruptcy settlement to ensure that parishes, schools and other Catholic entities would not face lawsuits they would have likely lost.
The money, and its release from liability for all abuse that occurred before the diocese filed for bankruptcy, was an “insurance policy for every parish and all other Catholic entities in the diocese” and allowed them to avoid lawsuits.
“Legal fees alone would have been ruinous, and it is highly likely that the lawsuits would be lost, threatening the very survival of these parishes and other entities,” leaders said.
That is where Uhde and the diocese agree.
“For the committee to sue the individual parishes would have been irresponsible,” Uhde said. “The litigation would have dragged on for years, costing far more in attorney fees than could ever have been recovered.”
The diocese declined further comment.
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