The Diocese of Wilmington has reached an agreement to pay sexual
abuse survivors more than $77.4 million to settle more than 150 abuse
claims as part of its efforts to exit bankruptcy.
The agreement, part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy mediation, was reached
on Feb. 2, the diocesan newspaper The Dialog reports.
It ends pending
lawsuits against the diocese and several parishes and commits the
diocese to give abuse survivors its files on suspected sexual abusers.
In a Feb. 3 letter to the people of his diocese, Bishop W. Francis
Malooly of Wilmington said the agreement means the $3 million judgment
against St. Elizabeth Parish will be paid from the settlement and so
will spare the church’s parishioners a “tremendous” financial burden.
The agreement also preserves the diocese’s lay employee pension fund.
The settlement is $3.4 million higher than the amount the diocese
offered in its plan proposed on Jan. 10.
Under the agreement, Bishop Malooly will continue to meet any abuse
survivor who wishes to meet with him and will send a letter of apology
to survivors and their families.
Each of the diocese’s institutions will
display a plaque stating that sexual abuse of any kind will not be
tolerated.
“It is our hope and prayer that the settlement's monetary and
non-monetary terms will begin the healing process for clergy sexual
abuse survivors,” the bishop wrote.
In a separate statement, he said the settlement meets the diocese’s
goals of compensating survivors while continuing its charitable,
educational and spiritual works.
Seven other Catholic U.S. dioceses –in Alaska, Arizona, California,
Iowa, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin–have filed for bankruptcy during
the past decade because of similar abuse claims and subsequent costs and
settlements.
The settlement does not include sex abuse suits against religious
orders in the Diocese of Wilmington.
Victims’ attorney Thomas S.
Neuberger has said he will seek as much as $80 million from the orders.