The Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed its financial statements
in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday, listing $40.7 million in assets and
$24 million in liabilities, and offering an unprecedented look at the
holdings of the Catholic Church in southeast Wisconsin.
The filing is
the first step in what is expected to be a protracted legal battle over
assets available to pay claims of men and women sexually abused by
Catholic clergy as children, dating back decades.
Jeff
Anderson, the St. Paul, Minn., attorney representing the victims, said
the financials are incomplete, but declined to elaborate.
And he likened
the Milwaukee Archdiocese to the Diocese of San Diego, which was
criticized in 2007 by its bankruptcy judge, who believed the church
misrepresented its assets.
Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski rejected that characterization.
"Our finances are no secret," said Topczewski, chief of staff for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki.
"We don't have vast resources, and what we do have is restricted to ministry," he said.
Legal experts said they have no way of assessing Anderson's claim, based on the documents.
"But this is
exactly the kind of thing that can make this messy and protracted," said
Jonathan Lipson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor who
reviewed the filing.
The Milwaukee
Archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January after
failing to reach a settlement with two dozen sex abuse victims.
As part
of the bankruptcy, the court will determine what assets are available
to compensate creditors, including victims, and oversee a reorganization
plan that would allow the archdiocese to continue operating.
Topczewski
and Listecki have said that the vast majority of church assets are in
restricted accounts that cannot be tapped for settlements.
They said
before the filing that the church has about $7.1 million in cash and
property available to compensate victims.
The $40.7
million in assets listed Monday is less than half the $98 million that
appears on the church's 2010 audited financial statements.
Omitted, said
Topczewski, are $48 million in restricted cemetery accounts and funds
held in accounts for other entities.
Monday's filing offered a glimpse at the archdiocese's income, holdings and financial obligations. According to the document:
• The
archdiocese earned $25.9 million in income during fiscal year 2010, down
from $26.7 million the previous year. Its income so far for fiscal year
2011 was $13.2 million.
• It owns 25
properties with a total value of $7.7 million. About half of the
holdings - all cemeteries or schools and a youth home - are listed as
having no value. Others range in value from $4.5 million for an
undeveloped cemetery in Franklin to $120,000 for the Newman Center at
UW-Whitewater.
• The archdiocese holds bank and investment accounts totaling about $19.7 million.
• Liabilities
include $13.7 million in the retired priests' health plan, $1.2 million
in the pension plan for cemetery workers, $3.4 million for Messmer High
School and $702,000 for payments to sex abuse victims who went through
the archdiocese's mediation process.
• The values
of numerous items are listed as "unknown" in the financial report,
including those of liturgical vestments and jewelry, and numerous
insurance policies.
The
archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection after a breakdown in
settlement talks with 24 men and women who were molested as children, 16
of whom have pending lawsuits against the archdiocese in Milwaukee
County Circuit Court.
They accuse
the archdiocese of defrauding them by moving priests with known
histories of sexual abuse from parish to parish without telling families
of their background.
One of those who had not yet filed lawsuits has since withdrawn as a claimant.
The
archdiocese said the talks collapsed after the plaintiffs' attorney
rejected a $4.6 million settlement offer.
The victims, however, said
they refused to discuss financial terms until the archdiocese agreed to
their non-monetary demands, including the release of all documents
pertaining to abuse in the archdiocese.
***
$25.9 million - Income earned by archdiocese in fiscal 2010
$19.7 million - Bank and investment accounts owned by archdiocese