Louisiana diocese prepares to file for bankruptcy over clergy abuse claims
Alexandria diocese plans to file ‘prearranged chapter 11’ after settlement with victims to avoid ‘lengthy delays’
Ramon Antonio Vargas
Thu 10 Oct 2024
A Roman Catholic diocese in north-west Louisiana appears ready to join 40 other organizations of its kind in the US by filing for federal bankruptcy protection as the church’s worldwide clergy molestation scandal continues reverberating, according to a letter obtained by the Guardian.
But the diocese in question – that of Alexandria, Louisiana – is first aiming to reach a global settlement with those who already have pending clergy abuse claims demanding damages from the institution before it then files what it called a “prearranged chapter 11” financial reorganization. As the letter authored by local attorneys for the Alexandria church put it, the purpose of the strategy is to avoid “the lengthy delays and huge professional fees” incurred by the May 2020 bankruptcy filed by Louisiana’s archdiocese of New Orleans.
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The Alexandria diocese in 2019 released a list of 27 clergymen who were faced with substantial allegations of sexual abuse of children or misconduct dating back to the 1940s. A few more names have since been added to the roster, bringing the number of clergymen identified to more than 30.
Yet the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) said in a statement Monday, in part, that the updated list omits at least two late clergymen who have been publicly labeled as “credibly accused” by Catholic officials elsewhere: Joseph Pellettieri (New Orleans and Baton Rouge) and Brian Highfill (New Orleans and Las Vegas).
Snap’s statement said that two other late clergymen who were criminally investigated for alleged child sexual abuse are not on any church credibly accused lists but merit being named in Alexandria’s roster. The investigation into one of those clergymen – Jaime Medina-Cruz – ended without action after he was found dead in a hotel room in 2013, and the case involving the other – Donald McCarthy – was dismissed when authorities determined too much time had passed to file charges against him, Snap said.
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