Wilmington, Del., Feb 5, 2011 / 16:33 pm
The Diocese of Wilmington has reached an agreement to pay sexual abuse survivors more than $77.4 million to settle more than 150 abuse claims as part of its efforts to exit bankruptcy.
The agreement, part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy mediation, was reached on Feb. 2, the diocesan newspaper The Dialog reports. It ends pending lawsuits against the diocese and several parishes and commits the diocese to give abuse survivors its files on suspected sexual abusers.
In a Feb. 3 letter to the people of his diocese, Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington said the agreement means the $3 million judgment against St. Elizabeth Parish will be paid from the settlement and so will spare the church’s parishioners a “tremendous” financial burden.
The agreement also preserves the diocese’s lay employee pension fund. The settlement is $3.4 million higher than the amount the diocese offered in its plan proposed on Jan. 10.