Another MN Diocese Files for Bankruptcy After $22,500,000 Sex Abuse Settlement

[NeoGreen]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/05/28/another-mn-diocese-files-for-bankruptcy-after-22500000-sex-abuse-settlement/

Another MN Diocese Files for Bankruptcy After $22,500,000 Sex Abuse Settlement
By Hemant Mehta, May 28, 2020

It’s a twofer: According to the terms of a new settlement, the Roman Catholic diocese of St. Cloud in Minnesota will go bankrupt but not before paying out $22.5 million to victims of sexual abuse.

Some 70 people say they were abused by 41 priests in cases that date back to the 1950s.

If the bankruptcy plan is approved, the diocese will become the fifth of Minnesota’s six dioceses to settle its clergy abuse claims and declare bankruptcy.

Nothing of value was lost. Whatever good these churches did was clearly outweighed by the trauma their priests inflicted upon dozens of children over the course of decades. The settlement comes only after those courageous victims had to relive their nightmares.

The victims’ lawyer, Jeff Anderson, also helped others achieve a $210 million settlement against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2018. In that case, while most of the money came from the Church’s insurance, roughly $40 million came via the parishes, a pension fund, and real estate sales. Tithe money inevitably went to pay victims who were raped by priests.

The Star Tribune puts this in context:

The Diocese of New Ulm in March reached a $34 million settlement with 100 survivors in its bankruptcy case. The Diocese of Duluth and its insurers agreed last year to a $40 million settlement with 125 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis reached a $210 million settlement in 2018 with 450 survivors.

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester filed for bankruptcy in 2018. The Diocese of Crookston avoided filing for bankruptcy when it reached a $5 million settlement last July to resolve 15 lawsuits for sexual abuse claims.

The Church committed an incalculable amount of harm on hundreds of people who had to live with the fallout before public pressure and new laws allowed them to pursue damages.

Can’t say the Church didn’t deserve it.

[Dawson Leery]

1. Their land holdings are the size of western Cananda.

[rurallib]

2. When the diocese I live in settled with victims and declared bankruptcy

many, many years ago, my practicing Catholic brother was really pissed at the victims for bankrupting the church. He said that money could have gone for so many much better things.

I tried to explain he should have been mad at the priests who committed the crime and those who covered it up for so many years.

Never have told him I was one of the victims. I wasn't screwed up at all, just mad as hell about it. Some of the folks in the group (this was before social media so it was done mostly by mail) were really fucked up for their whole lives.

[CaptYossarian]

3. Screw Unto Others.

Except now, we've had 3+ months of empty collection baskets. Some churches are beginning to reopen, but the more cautious & wise will be persona non grata (they love their Latin). And the parishioners haven't been extorted into mandatory attendance for that length of time either.

The CCD coordinator at our parish takes a visual attendance all weekend long. With 8 of her own kids, she doesn't need a hobby. She's nuts--pure and simple. What if some of her children had been "chosen ones" in the past? Her life would be in turmoil.

An elderly family member defended the priests by saying, "what's the big deal?" I think she would have been honored to be touched by one of these diocese degenerates.

File away, dickwads. You did this to yourselves. Next time, wear a rubber.

[3Hotdogs]

5. I was a victim, too. Physical abuse. I was kicked by a priest.

I don’t understand why they are not sued for physical abuse. Only explanation I can think of is that there were probably settlements for the more serious cases.

Mine was not serious. More of a “What da fuck?” When it happened.


Yeah. sue their asses off.

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. This is why we need freedom of religion - to be FREE OF IT.

Aren’t 5 of the 9 SCOTUS’s Catholic?? Just sayin’.

[Duppers]

7. +100