$210 million St. Paul Archdiocese bankruptcy settlement approved

Archbishop Bernard Hebda (left) and clergy abuse
survivor Jamie Huetmaker shook hands after a U.S.
Bankruptcy Court approved a settlement plan that
includes $210 million for more than 400 victims of
clergy sex abuse.

It was a day that some clergy abuse survivors thought might never happen.

In a courtroom crowded with survivors and attorneys, a bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $210 million settlement between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and more than 400 survivors, the largest such settlement in the nation.

It took nearly four years of legal wrangling to arrive at that moment, one of the longest such bankruptcies involving the Catholic Church.

“It took longer than I expected; it took longer than it should have,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel lamented in approving the plan.

The archdiocese can now move forward with a financial reorganization, and parishes that employed the abusers can forgo future legal claims.

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