Originally published at The Crux
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Vermont’s Catholic Diocese is marking this week’s second anniversary of its request for a Chapter 11 financial reorganization plan by asking a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to dismiss its case, which so far has cost $2 million in legal fees “with no end in sight,” church lawyers said.
The state’s largest religious denomination had filed its initial call for help on Sept. 30, 2024, when it said a past series of nearly 70 priest misconduct settlements had reduced its monetary holdings by half — to about $35 million — with more than 100 other abuse claims dating as far back as 1950 yet to be resolved.
Two years later, attorneys for the church and its creditors — who include more than 100 claimants of clergy abuse — held private mediation sessions on Monday and Tuesday. At the end of those meetings, the diocese offered creditors a proposed $29.4 million collective settlement that would average $247,000 per claimant, it wrote in a court filing.
An official committee representing creditors declined the diocese’s offer, its lawyers said, having learned over the weekend that the court was set to consider the claimants’ related lawsuit seeking access to an additional estimated $500 million
