Minnesota judge to weigh competing plans in archdiocesan bankruptcy case

August 30, 2017

A federal bankruptcy-court judge in Minnesota is weighing two plans for reorganizing the finances of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis: one plan submitted by the archdiocese and another by a committee of creditors.

The creditors’ group, composed mostly of sex-abuse victims, had voted overwhelmingly to reject the archdiocesan plan. But at a hearing on the two plans, Judge Robert Kressel questioned whether the creditors had “unrealistic expectations” of a larger payout from their own plan.

The archdiocesan plan would provide $150 million in payment to victims. Jeffrey Anderson, the lawyer for the plaintiff, argues that the archdiocese could furnish much more by dipping into parish funds and other sources. Representatives of the archdiocese counter that the creditors’ plan would cripple the work of the Church in the Minnesota archdiocese.

Judge Kressel did not say when he would make a ruling on the plans. The highly contentious bankruptcy case has already been in court for more than two years, with legal fees alone mounting to over $20 million.

 

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Further information:

• Judge signals concerns about creditors' plan for bankrupt archdiocese (MPR)
• Minnesota archdiocese: proposed bankruptcy settlement would destroy Church work (CWN, 8/8)