The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington,
Delaware, won court permission to pay people who were sexually
abused by priests $77.4 million to win protection from future
lawsuits and end its bankruptcy case.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Wilmington
said today that he would approve the diocese’s reorganization
plan after lawyers for the church and the victims work out the
final wording of a court order he can sign.
The plan was designed to compensate about 150 abuse victims
whose molestation claims stretch back to the 1960s and to impose
an outside review of all church policies, from the education of
its priests to how it runs its schools.
Sontchi will hold a
hearing later this afternoon where he said he will sign an order
approving the reorganization plan, assuming the final changes
don’t contradict any of the rulings he has made in the case.
Some victims may never fully regain confidence in the
church, attorney James Stang, who represented a committee of
abuse victims, said in court.
“Anyone who thinks this case provides some kind of
reconciliation does not understand the nature of the abuse they
went through,” Stang said.
In 2009, the Delaware diocese became one of at least seven
Roman Catholic entities in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy to
settle lawsuits from current and former parishioners.
The bankruptcy case is In re Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
Inc., 09-13560, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware
(Wilmington).