Survivors of clergy sex abuse with claims against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are likely to receive payment from its $210 million bankruptcy settlement before year-end.
An attorney representing the archdiocese said during an Aug. 9 bankruptcy hearing at the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis that the archdiocese intends for survivors to receive remuneration as soon as possible, and that survivors have asked for payment distribution by the end of 2018.
Judge Robert Kressel, the U.S. bankruptcy court judge overseeing the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case, scheduled a Sept. 25 hearing on the confirmation of the archdiocese’s plan for reorganization, which establishes a trust for payment distribution to abuse claimants. Prior to the Sept. 25 hearing, claimants will be balloted on whether they approve of the plan, and their votes are expected to inform Kressel’s decision on the plan’s confirmation.
Because the plan was reached consensually between the archdiocese and a committee representing abuse claimants, archdiocesan leaders expect most claimants will approve the plan, said Tom Abood, chairman of the archdiocese’s Reorganization Task Force.
“By Sept. 25, we hope to have confirmation of this plan,” he said following the hearing.
The $210 million plan agreement was announced May 31. The archdiocese entered bankruptcy in January 2015 in response to mounting claims of clergy sexual abuse against it.
“We’re happy that we’re moving forward, and that the [Sept. 25] date has been set, and that it was a very amicable hearing today, just hearing how the people from different sides are working together on this,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said following the hearing.
He added that having an end in sight “has to be good news to all.”
