SPOKANE – The Spokane Catholic Diocese has agreed to pay at least $48 million to people molested by priests as a part of a deal to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a federal mediator announced Thursday.
Federal Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W. Zive in Reno, Nev., presided over the six-month mediation that produced the settlement being filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here Thursday as part of a reorganization plan.
The plan must be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams and the victims of sexual abuse, who are considered creditors, Zive said. The Spokane diocese is among four nationwide that have filed for bankruptcy protection because of a growing number of abuse claims.
“The economic portion of the global settlement totals at least $48 million and provides a mechanism for the payment of future claims,” Zive said in a news release.
The settlement would be financed by $20 million from six insurance carriers; $18 million from the sale of the bishop’s office building and other assets and contributions from other Catholic entities; and $10 million from the diocese’s 82 parishes, he said.
Zive said the settlement includes non-economic issues that will “help provide the survivors with some measure of closure and allow them to move forward and continue the healing process” while allowing the diocese to continue its mission.
The settlement include provisions that Spokane Bishop William Skylstad will be required to send letters of apology to victims or their immediate families, to publish the names of all known abusers, allow victims to publicly address the parishes where they were sexually abused and to publish their stories in the diocesan newspaper.
Spokesman Eric Meisfjord said the diocese would have no immediate comment.
Mike Ross, an officer of the Spokane chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national organization of clergy abuse victims, said the settlement is bittersweet.
“I think we’re satisfied that every party tried to find some consensus, but the victims are not thrilled with this deal. There are going to be many victims who will never see their day in court and that’s truly what they wanted,” Ross said. “Without that, we will never have the satisfaction that justice was served.”
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