no reason to worry, folks

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Sep 24, 2005

On September 9, in the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, we read this:

Parishioners in the Archdiocese need have no fear that their parish churches, schools and athletic facilities will be taken from them and sold to compensate victims. In the first place, according to Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will not declare bankruptcy. The Archdiocese is adequately insured to deal with all of the cases against it.

On September 24, in the Los Angeles Times, we read this:

Both the archdiocese's and the plaintiffs' attorneys blame the impasse on the insurers, which have sued, demanding that the archdiocese hand over documents about the alleged sexual abuse by priests. "We are not able to get anywhere near the levels of sincere participation from our carriers," said attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who represents Mahony.

So, the L.A. faithful shouldn't bother their pretty little heads about bankruptcy -- according to the Archdiocese -- because the insurance policies suffice to pay projected damages, while the insurers themselves are so unforthcoming -- according to the Archdiocese -- as to have gridlocked the settlement talks. The folks in the pews can breathe easy, and I hope they don't miss this gem of fiduciary reassurance:

[Plaintiffs' attorney Raymond] Boucher asked the court to allow him to begin discovery on 25 cases that he and Hennigan would hand-pick. Of those, nine would be selected for trial. Three other lawyers for alleged victims opposed Boucher's request, saying they should be allowed to start discovery on all of the cases against the archdiocese simultaneously. Attorney Venus Soltan reminded the court that both sides launched settlement talks so the archdiocese's coffers would not be cleaned out by initial multimillion-dollar jury verdicts.

Your Uncle Di reads that as saying that some of the plaintiffs' lawyers are worried that there won't be enough pickings to go around -- there are 560 alleged victims in the plantiff pool -- once evidence is heard about the responsible, open, and timely way in which the Archdiocese dealt with a fraction of the abuser priests and the juries assign their awards accordingly. Shockingly, not even Venus Soltan seems to have had her concerns allayed by the editorial in The Tidings. Doubtless she's a troglodyte right-wing Catholic with a hang-up about Redemptionis Sacramentum.