The New Orleans Archdiocese has become the most recent archdiocese of the Catholic Church to file for bankruptcy protection.

This move comes as a result of growing financial pressure due to the coronavirus and sexual abuse lawsuits against the clergy. Archbishop Gregory Aymond told WWL that “nothing will change” as a result of the filing. Victims’ advocates feel that bankruptcy filings on behalf of branches of the Catholic Church are more about protecting secrets than protecting assets.

New Orleans Archdiocese Child Sex Abuse Overview

In 2018, the New Orleans Archdiocese released a list of nearly 60 clergymen who had been accused of sexually abusing a minor. The list includes clergymenwho have been accused and removed from the ministry, clergymen who were accused or confessed and have since passed away, and several accused abusers who are not specified as being removed from the ministry or not.

This list has been made public, but Archbishop Aymond told Louisiana news source 4WWLthat some had encouraged him to keep the list of the accused private.

“I believe it is the right thing to do in order to foster the healing of victims, in a spirit of transparency, and in the pursuit of justice,” Aymond wrote in a letter addressing his release of the list. “If necessary, the list will be updated if other cases are presented.”

The release of the New Orleans Archdiocese list of abusive priests came after it was revealed that a clergyman who has been accused of raping one boy and sexually assaulting another was allowed to remain active after claims by one of his victims were settled by the archdiocese for $500,000.

Since the archdiocese first faced criticism for their treatment of sexual abuse claims in the 1980s, at least one clergyman was acquitted in court, and several cases have been settled without public knowledge. In 2020, just months before the bankruptcy filing, the archdiocese was accused of covering up the abuse of a “serial pedophile who has sexually abused countless children,” according to Fox8.

How Long Has the Abuse Been Going on For?

According to 4WWL, the first major Roman Catholic child sex abuse scandal faced by the New Orleans Archdiocese came in the 1980s when a priest was accused of having assaulted nearly 40 children in several parishes.

However, accusations of sexual assault against the clergy date back years before then. According to Aymond, the New Orleans Archdiocese list of abusive priests was created based on files of nearly 2,500 priests serving the archdiocese dating back to 1950. The allegations against those priests range from as far back as 1917 to 2019.

How Many Sexual Abuse Claims Does the New Orleans Archdiocese Face?

According to nola.com, the New Orleans Archdiocese is facing considerably fewer abuse lawsuits than other dioceses who have also filed bankruptcy. This is largely due to the fact that, unlike several other states, Louisiana hasn’t revised their sexual assault laws to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to file.

“We’re not looking at a situation where there are an enormous number of lawsuits that are being managed, at least to our knowledge. This bankruptcy might be an anticipatory bankruptcy,” Terry McKiernan, founder of a national clergy abuse registry, told Nola.

Who is on the New Orleans Archdiocese List of Abusive Priests?

The New Orleans Archdiocese list of abusive priests now includes just over 60 accused clergymen. Those named include accused serial abuser Lawrence Hecker. Hecker became a priest in 1958 and is accused of perpetrating abuse during the late sixties and seventies. The church received allegations regarding Hecker in 1996, but he wasn’t removed from the ministry for another six years.

Many other list entries show clergymen who were removed within a year of being accused. In 2019, a court filing was submitted requesting the declassification of documents regarding the alleged cover-up of bad behavior by accused abusers like Hecker.

“The crux of almost all of these documents are underlying sexual crimes against children and the Archdiocese’s decades-long cover up of these crimes, which is potentially criminal in and of itself,” the filing reads.

Has the New Orleans Archdiocese Filed for Bankruptcy?

The New Orleans Archdiocese bankruptcy filing came as a result of the abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese as well as increasing financial pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bankruptcy filing means that all pending lawsuits and mediation requests from abuse victims are expected to be halted in court.

According to 4WWL, the archdiocese listed assets of nearly $400 million and liabilities of well over $500,00 million. Those liabilities include $8.5 million set aside for abuse claims.

“The Archdiocese of New Orleans is solvent,” Aymond told 4WWL. “We have money, but if this were to play itself out it would be very difficult to be able to do what we’re supposed to do.”

Hearings Held in Bankruptcy Proceedings

Lawyers for the New Orleans Archdiocese presented arguments in the bankruptcy proceedings this August. According to local news source Fox 8, they argued that the proceeding should stay in federal bankruptcy court and that the church should be allowed to declare itself insolvent. The church claims that it is facing huge debts and is headed toward insolvency.

Opposing attorneys reportedly argued that the New Orleans Archdiocese has entered into bankruptcy in “bad faith.” They say the archdiocese has over $500 million in assets and should be forced to pay claims made by alleged victims of child sex abuse by clergy. NOLA.com reports that the attorneys presented a letter from the archbishop to the Vatican that said insurance would pay all but $7 million of the cost of settling allegations of sex abuse by priests.

According to Fox 8, victims and victims advocates say the proceedings should be moved back to state court.

“The church is in a difficult position. Every Sunday they display the gold chalices in churches across the archdiocese. We look at the big buildings, we put the money in the baskets, we know about everything they have and for them to come in and poor mouth it may be a little difficult,” Fox 8’s legal analyst said of the hearings.

Attorneys representing the archdiocese reportedly noted at the hearing that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on their income, including charitable contributions.

What Does This Mean for the Victims?

Aymond claims that the archdiocese bankruptcy will only affect church administration expenses, but he also said the archdiocese filed bankruptcy because it can’t afford the litigation costs of mounting abuse claims. The bankruptcy filing essentially makes all of the victims seeking compensation into creditors. The cases are expected to be decided en masse by a federal judge and no jury. Aymond told 4WWL that this would ensure that all victims are treated “equally and fairly”.

However, advocates like the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests (SNAP) see the decision to file bankruptcy as a sign that the archdiocese, and indeed the Vatican, wants to keep its history of abuse accusations quiet.

“This a disappointing but not surprising move, as Archbishop Gregory Aymond now follows in the footsteps of dozens of catholic officials who have chosen to declare bankruptcy rather than allow survivors of clergy sexual abuse to bring their claims forward in open court,” SNAP told 4WWL.

The bankruptcy filing also establishes a hard deadline for anyone seeking to file an abuse claim against the archdiocese. Payouts for victims of other dioceses that have filed bankruptcy have been as high as $200 million, though the majority are much lower.