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Fees in archdiocese bankruptcy case reach $4 million

Legal fees and expenses approved to date in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy are approaching $4 million, according to court records. »Read Full Article

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  1. Annysa, thanks to you and your editors for giving this the attention it deserves. Appreciate Judge Kelley and Assistant U.S. Trustee Asbach speaking out.

    AFAIK, most of the victims (and their families) have stated repeatedly, what they want is transparency. When they did not get it, they had no recourse but to seek relief in civil courts.

    AFAIK, it was only then, that the all-male, all allegedly celibate, Roman Catholic hierarchy decided to file Chapter 11. The laity had ZERO input and the decision was based only on hiding the hierarchy's decades long complicity in REPEATEDLY loosing the SAME child molesters on DIFFERENT parishes. Since the LAITY, not the hierarchy foot the bills, they couldn't have cared less.

    Back in 1944, "Going My Way," was nominated for 10 Academy Awards. It won 7.
    Bing Crosby won Best Actor for portraying a young Catholic priest. That was the esteem and trust that the public, not just Roman Catholics had in the moral fiber of priests.

    The Roman Catholic Church is arm-pit deep in qualified vocations. The hierarchy refuses to consider most, because they are the "wrong" gender, or married, or both. After some courageous bishop makes celibacy OPTIONAL in HIS diocese, the way it was up until the 11th Century


    and starts ordaining BOTH genders, it will probably take a century to get back to the level of trust that existed in 1944.
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    • As per usual, Casper is out here with his usual prejudiced and anti-catholic spew. This article points out the real reason the lawyers are pursuing this, PROFIT.

      Were Casper and his ilk to look just beyond their fantasy world and deal with the facts here, Catholic clergy represents less than .01% of all child sexual abuse cases in the US. Facts be told, the Evangelicals and Baptist account for the majority.

      The Catholic Church should be punished for allowing this BUT not at the cost of ignoring the other 99% of the child sexual abuse cases in the US which Casper does not like mentioning becuase they are not Catholic and do not fit into his dysfunctional "Know Nothing" world of hatred and bias.
    • windsurrender thanks for defending OJ Simpson. Remember Johnny Cochran? Nichole Brown Simpson's family had to sue OJ in civil court, because it could not convict him in criminal court.

      The only anti-Roman Catholic on this thread is you. You're enabling the rape of children and those who furthered it, the hierarchy. Be sure to let us know how many current and past bishops are not listed in the url.

      Please, by all means, list all the others who have REPEATEDLY gotten away with transferring KNOWN child molesters into PLACES OF AUTHORITY over children.

    • The King of the Non Sequitur analogies responses with another one of his bloviated statements. Spare me another one of your self righteous opinions and bias web sites that cater to your groups mind-think.

      The ONLY thing you ever do, anyone can check your posts here, is bash Catholics like your “Know Nothing” WASP buddies. You hide behind a false curtain of religion and social concern for sexually abused children. You ignore facts and obfuscate the truth in order to launch into another one of your numerous rants against Catholics. I know you don’t like hearing facts that contradict with your fantasies but here goes;

      Fact - Out of the 100,000 plus catholic priests in the US, only 4% of those were accused of sexual child molestation and less than 2% were ever convicted -----

      If one is to believe Casper and his ilk, every Catholic Priest and the church itself is one big pedophile network.

      Links and proof I have Casper, more than enough evidence to prove you are a liar and have a major anti-catholic ax to grind.
    • After I read his post, I didn't think that John Caspar was Anti-Catholic. He quoted the right scriptures, that most of us former Catholics have learned, since we left the Church, which refused to let us have open access to the Bible and forgiveness, without the help of a priest. Pedophilia Priests in Wisconsin knew that the could molest, rape and sodomize over and over again, without any repercussions to their priesthood, and as a result, they did so! Now, the Church needs to pay for the gross stupidity of those, who allowed these same Pedophile Priests to stay in the priesthood. hopefully, there will be another trial in Wisconsin, similar to the one up in Philly with Monsignor Lynn, right now. I would love to see Cardinal Dolan on the witness stand, defending his actions and those of his subordinates. As the old saying goes when it comes to the handling of Pedophile Priests, "It's deja vous all over again," and again and again, in every major archdiocese!
    • wind;
      If you are a catholic, and I assume you are based on your avid defense of the church, you should insist that the church take responsibility for its actions instead of making excuses for them. I'm not sure where you got your statistics (catholic clergy accounting for less than .01% of all sexual abuse cases) or why you think that more than 99% of those cases can be attributed to "baptists and evangelicals". I, personally, have never heard of a scandal of this scope in any other denomination- or for that matter, all other denominations combined. And before you go off half-cocked, I am not saying that sexual abuse doesn't occur within the clergy or church workers of other denominations. The big difference is the way in which it is handled. The catholic church was well aware of the problems, yet chose to pretend there was no problem and knowingly move the abusers around, thereby allowing the problem to get worse. Now the time has come to put an end to this.
    • windsavage, what I got out of this article is the Catholic church spending a lot of money trying to spend as little as possible towards settlement to the victims. Just my take. I also think what Casper says about having people married and woman become priests would be a positive step for the Catholic church. Can't live in the dark ages forever, well I guess you can, but your following is going to diminish. I suspect once it becomes apparent to the Catholic church that allowing married people and woman is necessary for the Church's financial survival only then will they change this policy, but not before. And since the Vatican is loaded, this could be a couple of generations away.
    • "Living in the Dark Ages......" Well, about 5 years or so ago, I coined a phrase, "The Neanderthal Church." No offense to Neanderthals, but the Church is still living in the days when the club and intimidation were the only weapons of mass destruction that they had!
    • Swiss Boy - Casper is good at changing to topic to support his own prejudices. The article has absolutely NOTHING to do with women priests, which I could care less about, and everything to do with how lawyers are milking this issue to enrich themselves,
    • Jeannie - I'm not into biblical scriptures so what a person quotes as far as that is concerned, is meaningless to me. If the JS is one's only source of news, then those people are truly misinformed, at best. Anyone, with half a brain, can access information from government sources, that outline the true extent of child sexual abuse - - and - - and one will find that even totaling all religious clergy (Christian, Jewish and other) in the Us, that comes to less than 3% of the reported crimes. Take a hint from the Penn State incident.
    • Yeah windsavage, I agree the article had nothing to do with woman priest, and I posted twice what I got out of the article. A woman priest is probably out of the question for a long time, if ever, but the celibacy thing is a little much, I'm sure a lot of priest have cheated, the old joke "show me a guy who say he doesn't masterbate and I'll show you a liar."
  2. Something seems very wrong to me with this and maybe someone can enlighten me. But how can the archdiocese file bankruptcy? Doesn't the local Parish pay a "fee" or "tax" to the Archdiocese, and doesn't the Archdiocese then pay a "fee" or "tax" to the Vatican? So why not make the Vatican settle up? Also, don't understand how a religious organization would have the same protection from liability and bankruptcy laws much like a tax paying corporation? Seize all the assets in the Archdiocese and auction off all the property. Wonder what Jesus would do? Doubt he'd agree to legal finagling to protect money the Vatican has accumulated the last couple of centuries.
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  3. Some parishes have either a cemetary and or a school. The cemetary funds are a legit long term maintenance of the land paid for by those burying the dead. Some of the schools have endowment funds. The money is 100% donated for the long term support of the local school. The archdiocese pools the assets to get a higher rate of return for the individual parishes. Neither of these asset classes are archdiocese owned. The creditors know this and are just running up the bill just like divorce attorneys love to. Limit the creditor attorneys "asset finding" and leave the available money for the victims!
  4. This is what the Catholic Church gets for taking confessions from Father Butufuco!
  5. Catholic Church to members we need more people for our priests to bend over.
  6. And I am sure that WHYTE HIRSCHBOECK DUDEK & company will give generously to the wicker basket that they pass around at the Sunday collection. After all, at the going rate of $475 that they charge per hour -- it is in their own best interest to drag this out for a few extra...years?

    Isn't matter what the outcome...if you are a lawyer!
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  9. Excessive attorney fees in bankruptcy are occurring nation wide. The Chapter 11 theory of allowing an efficient reorganization of the business and preserving some pay back for creditors through bankruptcy is being subverted by the greedy bankruptcy bar.

    The WSJ had an article on this just last week. It printed the Bankruptcy Trustee Division of the DOJ was looking into the excessive fee problem and may propose limits and guidelines to help the Bankruptcy Judges limit fee claims. Let's hope some good will come of this.
  10. How conveinent for the archdiocese to blame the creditors committee (those who represent victims of childhood rape and sexual assault)for the ongoing legal expenses associated with this bankruptcy. It is the archdicoese that VOLUNTARILY sought the protection of the US bankruptcy court when faced with over a dozen lawsuits for the rape and sexual assault of parishioners. Asking the courts to reviews documents which concern what the management of the archdiocese knew concerning child sex offenders is not "frivolous". The diocese does not want the court to review these documents because it is the documents which reveal what the diocese knew and when they knew it. It is Milwaukee's bishop, Jerome Listecki, who is choosing to make this "all out war" by pursuing the most aggressive legal strategy against victims since dioceses began filing for bankruptcy. How sad, that even at this date, he cannot choose to own up to the criminal behavior of his colleagues, reveal the secrets of the diocese, and provide justice to the victims of these crimes.
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    • He can't. He is a Cult Leader and is sworn not to reveal or own up to the misdeeds of his fellow Cult Leaders.

      The Cult Leaders are fanatically concerned that their entire Cult System will begin to unravel should they ever fail to support one another. They believe in some fatuous way that Jesus will be there for them, through thick and thin, come hell or high water, because of an oracle they find in their Scripture.

      What they neglect to admit to themselves and one another is that God does not countenance evil being done that some supposed good may result.
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