Archdiocese of N.O. to implement “gold standard” for child protection as part of bankruptcy settlement
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - It’s hard to ignore the financial side of the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy case, which essentially came to an end this week after a federal judge approved its settlement plan. Ultimately, $305 million may go to settle hundreds of clergy sex abuse claims. It’s one of the costliest Catholic church bankruptcies in recent American history.
“It’s going to be one of the highest per claim, meaning per survivor, and it just sucks that everything with these people who have suffered so much is reduced to numbers,” said Richard Trahant, an attorney who represented 82 claimants in the bankruptcy proceedings.
There’s another aspect of the bankruptcy that involves the “non-monetary provisions” of the settlement plan. They’re a set of reforms and protocols designed to establish what the archdiocese believes is the “gold standard” of child protection. Following the confirmation of the bankruptcy plan on Monday, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said some of those reforms are in place now.
“A vast majority of things in the non-monetary is what we’re doing already. We have a very robust safe environment program, and that will continue,” Aymond said.
The non-monetary provisions are laid out in a 36-page document that has been posted on the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ website. Those provisions include steps the archdiocese will take to improve its reporting of abuse, requiring clergy or any employee of the archdiocese to immediately contact law enforcement or child services when a claim is made. The archdiocese will also keep two survivors of clergy sex abuse on its independent review board that handles such allegations. Patricia Moody, a claimant in the bankruptcy who says she was abused when she was a young girl, will serve on that board.
“I’m sure so many people have strayed from the church because of what has happened, their experiences. However, I do think this is an opportunity for the church to move in the direction that they need to,” Moody said back in November.
During the testimony period of the bankruptcy, Moody said the archdiocese never documented her abuse claim when she reported the abuse to an official there. The new reforms mandate a paper trail at every step of that process. The archdiocese is also pledging more transparency. It will publish survivor stories and release documents related to priests and clergy credibly accused of abuse. Those documents will be kept at LSU.
“We can expect it to happen. We don’t have a timeline at this point, but we have committed ourselves that they will go to LSU and they will be available to people,” Aymond said.
“This is a huge win for survivors,” Letitia Peyton said.
Peyton says one of her children was molested by a priest in the past. She is co-founder and executive director of Tentmakers of Louisiana, an advocacy group for survivors. Peyton says the new standards laid out in the non-monetary provisions of the archdiocese’s bankruptcy plan are perhaps among the highest in the country and give a voice to victims who felt ignored and silenced for decades. During the bankruptcy confirmation hearings, many survivors said on the witness stand that the archdiocese often ignored their reports of abuse while protecting predator priests. Peyton says the reforms will give validation to the victimized.
“What is really important is having the trauma being validated, in a sense, because for so many years these people were not able to say what happened to them, and some were even called liars,” Peyton said.
For Tim Trahan, another claimant in the archdiocese bankruptcy, being heard can be healing.
“I’m moving from being a victim to being a victor, and that’s a very good feeling,” Trahan said.
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