Vermont’s Catholic church has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 30 lawsuits alleging child sex abuse by clergy decades ago, according to a filing in federal bankruptcy court.
Since 2006, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, the state's only diocese, has settled 67 lawsuits for a total of $34 million, Bishop John McDermott said in the court filing on Monday. Twenty of those were settled after the Legislature in 2019 removed the statue of limitations on when a claim could be made and the diocese faces 31 more, according to McDermott's affidavit.
To pay the settlements going back to 2006, the diocese, which has 63 parishes and currently employs approximately 54 people, has sold church property, received some insurance funds and more recently used its investments and operating funds, the affidavit states. The goal of the bankruptcy case is “to fairly and equitably fulfill the Diocese’s obligations to all survivors of sexual abuse," the affidavit said. The diocese said Tuesday that it will be releasing a statement on the bankruptcy filing later this week.
“For decades the Burlington Diocese covered up horrific sexual abuse of generations of Vermont’s children by sexual predators it employed as priests,” Laramie said in a statement on Tuesday.
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