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    Saturday, November 02, 2024

    Diocese of Norwich files new bankruptcy reorganization plan

    Norwich ― The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich filed a new Chapter 11 reorganization plan Friday night that is designed to help it emerge from bankruptcy while providing about $30 million in payments to survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

    The diocese, the diocese’s insurer, the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, and an association of the diocese’s parishes have agreed on the reorganization plan, the diocese said in a statement provided by a media relations agency.

    U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Tancredi had set the Friday filing deadline in an Aug. 13 order he issued in the diocese’s 3-year-old bankruptcy case.

    The diocese had indicated it would file its own reorganization plan after a sexual assault victims’ group known as the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors abandoned an earlier plan to which the parties had agreed. The committee unilaterally withdrew from the plan in late June, filing an amended version in its place.

    In an Aug. 23 filing, the diocese said the amended plan “is facially unconfirmable and will invite years of litigation ... faces wide-spread opposition and, contrary to representations made by Committee counsel, it will not facilitate an expedited path to resolving this case and getting relief to the survivors.”

    “The Committee now stands alone,” the diocese said.

    The plan adopted by the diocese, the diocese’s insurer and parishes would be funded by a coalition of other contributors who would not be contributing to the committee’s plan, the diocese said. A trust would be created and funded with about $30 million that would be immediately available.

    The diocese said it has continued to seek to discuss a consensual plan with the committee, which has declined to negotiate.

    Facing lawsuits from more than 140 alleged victims of sexual abuse by diocesan priests and employees, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2021. The diocese last year auctioned the St. Bernard School property it owned in Montville, raising $6.55 million for settlement payments.

    b.hallenbeck@theday.com

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