Archdiocese's lawyers make millions as hundreds of sex abuse survivors haven't seen any money
As hundreds of sexual abuse survivors keep waiting for years to see any money from a bankrupt New Orleans Archdiocese, new court filings show the church is paying $25 million to lawyers and consultants in federal bankruptcy court.
That includes $13 million and counting to the church’s own bankruptcy lawyers and accountants, who have fought at every turn to justify the church’s need for protection from creditors and to keep details of clergy abuse from being released to the public.
Jones Walker attorneys Mark Mintz and Dirk Wegmann were charging $400 and $300 an hour for their services until June 1. Those fees just went up last month to $490 and $400 an hour, respectively, and associates Samantha Oppenheim and Caroline McCaffrey’s rates went up from $250 to $300 an hour, according to court records filed this week.
“They're the only ones who have been paid throughout this entire process, $25 million later,” said James Adams, a former member of the Catholic Community Foundation board who claims he was abused by a priest when he was 10. He served on the unsecured creditors’ committee until last year.
“We have members of our constituency that we're advocating for who are living on $900 a month, who are struggling,” Adams said. They're not only struggling with the effects of the abuse, they're struggling through these difficult economic times. They want justice for what happened to them. And then we see the lawyers for the archdiocese getting paid these exorbitant fees.”
The archdiocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection in May 2020 amid a deluge of sexual abuse claims against more than 70 former archdiocesan priests and other church employees. Filing for bankruptcy immediately stopped dozens of abuse lawsuits from moving forward.
https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/inves...cy%20court
As hundreds of sexual abuse survivors keep waiting for years to see any money from a bankrupt New Orleans Archdiocese, new court filings show the church is paying $25 million to lawyers and consultants in federal bankruptcy court.
That includes $13 million and counting to the church’s own bankruptcy lawyers and accountants, who have fought at every turn to justify the church’s need for protection from creditors and to keep details of clergy abuse from being released to the public.
Jones Walker attorneys Mark Mintz and Dirk Wegmann were charging $400 and $300 an hour for their services until June 1. Those fees just went up last month to $490 and $400 an hour, respectively, and associates Samantha Oppenheim and Caroline McCaffrey’s rates went up from $250 to $300 an hour, according to court records filed this week.
“They're the only ones who have been paid throughout this entire process, $25 million later,” said James Adams, a former member of the Catholic Community Foundation board who claims he was abused by a priest when he was 10. He served on the unsecured creditors’ committee until last year.
“We have members of our constituency that we're advocating for who are living on $900 a month, who are struggling,” Adams said. They're not only struggling with the effects of the abuse, they're struggling through these difficult economic times. They want justice for what happened to them. And then we see the lawyers for the archdiocese getting paid these exorbitant fees.”
The archdiocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection in May 2020 amid a deluge of sexual abuse claims against more than 70 former archdiocesan priests and other church employees. Filing for bankruptcy immediately stopped dozens of abuse lawsuits from moving forward.
https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/inves...cy%20court
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
