Boston, USA - A decision by a federal bankruptcy judge in Spokane, Wash., who ruled that the assets of the Catholic diocese could be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests, could have far-reaching implications for dioceses across the country, including in Boston, leaders of two lay reform groups said yesterday.
Peter Borre, cochairman of the Council of Parishes, a group that is assisting parishioners who oppose the closing of their parishes, said he believes the ruling might encourage more victims of clergy sexual abuse to come forward and file suit against church officials, two years after about 550 parishioners in Boston settled their claims with the archdiocese.
''We are going to see a significant surge in claims because, to put it a bit crassly, sexual-abuse victims and their attorneys will now see much larger sums of money available for settlement," he said. ''Everything within the diocese is now potentially on the table if it comes to Chapter 11 proceedings."
Terrence C. Donilon, spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese, said he did not want to comment directly on the ruling because church lawyers have not had a chance to review its details. But he said he wanted to point out differences between the Boston Archdiocese and the Diocese of Spokane, which filed for bankruptcy in December, claiming assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million. Most of those liabilities were sexual-abuse claims.
''We're not in bankruptcy, we're in a process of reconfiguration, so we're in a significantly different environment from Spokane," Donilon said.
Reconfiguration refers to the closing and merging of parishes in Greater Boston to make up for a dwindling number of priests, demographic changes, and financial constraints resulting from the clergy sexual-abuse crisis.
The Spokane decision came down Friday from US Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams. She ruled that all parish churches, parochial schools, and other property of the diocese could be liquidated to settle claims of sexual abuse by priests. The bishop of Spokane, William Skylstad, had argued that he did not control individual parishes and could not sell their assets to settle those claims.
Skylstad, who is also president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, vowed to appeal the federal ruling.
Outside Spokane, the ruling set off a wave of reaction among leaders of several lay reform groups, some of which have been engaged in a struggle with church leaders about who controls parish assets. In the Boston Archdiocese, the struggle has been particularly acute, as church leaders work to close roughly one-fourth of the 357 parishes under their control, placing in question the ownership of a range of assets.
Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley had maintained that the financial assets of closing parishes belonged to the archdiocese. But this month, the Vatican concluded that church officials here erred in that claim and that they needed to ask pastors to voluntarily turn over millions of dollars in bank accounts and real estate holdings before the archdiocese could claim them.
Borre, whose group has been trying to empower parishioners to gain more control over their churches, called the ruling a small tip in the balance of power between the archdiocese and local parishes.
''If the thrust of this decision is to push more power and ownership to the parish level, which I think it is, the next question becomes how do we structure the parish level," he said. Borre said he hopes to see structures akin to boards of trustees governing parishes, helping local pastors.
But Marci Hamilton, a law professor who helped represent some of the victims in the Spokane case, disagreed with Borre's interpretation. She said the ruling could make it harder for the assets of closed parishes to remain with the parishes unless they could prove in court that the property had come to be theirs through a pattern of continued use.
''The parishes in Boston are in hot water. I think that's a very hard argument to make," she said.
Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national victims' support group based in Chicago, said she hopes the ruling will dissuade other dioceses from battling claims brought by alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
''I hope that mostly this will send a message to attorneys in the church who are using legal hardball tactics, that they will stop," Blaine said. ''It's far better for everyone if the church leaders would just work with the people and recognize their pain and suffering."