The US Roman Catholic archdiocese of Milwaukee filed Tuesday for
bankruptcy protection to help it meet weighty financial obligations
brought on by the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the church for
decades.
Bankruptcy protection would allow the US midwestern
archdiocese, where a priest has been accused of molesting hundreds of
deaf boys from the 1950s to the 1970s, to "fairly and equitably fulfill
obligations" to victims of abusive clergy and to parishioners,
Archbishop Jerome Listecki said.
The Wisconsin-based archdiocese
will "use available funds to compensate victims with unresolved claims
in a single process overseen by a court, ensuring that all are treated
equitably," Listecki said.
Catholic priest Lawrence Murphy
allegedly molested up to 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Milwaukee
over two and a half decades starting in the 1950s.
The New York
Times published documents in March last year, which show that top
Vatican officials, including then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- who was
elected pope in 2005 -- never took action against Murphy, despite many
warnings from US bishops.
Days after the Times published the
documents, one of Murphy's victims said Pope Benedict XVI knew that the
priest had abused boys and should be held accountable.
Murphy died in 1998, having never been defrocked.
According to audited financial accounts from last year, the archdiocese of Milwaukee is a defendant in 13 sex abuse lawsuits.
An
attempt to reach a negotiated settlement with several defendants
recently failed, and, in another blow to the archdiocese, an appeals
court in Wisconsin ruled in November that insurance companies are not
bound to contribute to any financial settlement of a sex abuse case.
SIC: AFP/USA