Bankruptcy Court Approves Motion to pay for Counseling for Victims of Clergy Abuse

On April 18, 2011, the Honorable Susan V. Kelley of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin approved the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s request to continue paying for counseling and therapy for victims of clergy abuse.  The judge set an initial limit on payments of $100,000 annually.

The request, filed by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, asked for permission to continue payments for certain psychological counseling and therapy for victims who had previously reached agreements within its independent mediation system.  Since 2004, the archdiocese has reached resolution with almost 190 victim/survivors. The system was created in collaboration with Eva Soeka, director of Marquette University's internationally-acclaimed Center for Dispute Resolution. The court has also approved payments for any new therapy.

Two requests within the initial motion have not yet been considered by the Court, including a request that the archdiocese be able to make payments under pre-petition settlement agreements and a request to participate in voluntary mediations with two additional victim/survivors who do not want to participate in litigation.  The court is expected to schedule hearings on these remaining matters at a later date.

Ongoing updates about the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Chapter 11 Reorganization are available at www.archmil.org.