THE Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which faces more than a dozen civil fraud lawsuits because of its mishandling of clergy sex abuse cases filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Apparently, the Church needed to stop the lawsuits from proceeding further to trial where judgments may wipe out the Church completely. Archbishop Listecki sugar coated the Church’s reason for bankruptcy by saying that the move was necessary to “fairly compensate victims” and to continue the “essential ministries” of the Church.
Why the Catholic Church continues to be enmeshed with clergy sex abuse cases is very disturbing. Priests who are supposed to minister to the spiritual needs of the people become predators and sexually assault them. Instead of getting rid of these criminals in the ranks of the clergy, the Church coddles and protects them and just transfers them to a different post where they can sexually assault the most innocent members of the Church, the children. After the criminal activity is brought out, the Church denies the truth and attempts to cover it up. This conduct is shameful, outrageous and the complete opposite of the teachings of Christ. This shameful conduct has recently been matched by the resignation of Bishop Zavala of Los Angeles, who admits that he is the father of two teenage children who live with their mother out of state. Constant betrayals by the clergy can only mean that the Catholic Church is under relentless attacks by Lucificer who is out to destroy the Church by all possible means.
What does the Church gain by filing for Bankruptcy? It can avoid trials where the truth can be brought out. Instead of going to trial, victims will be forced to file a claim in bankruptcy court where they will be pressured into accepting settlements without the benefit of a full blown trial. Thus, the truth of what really happened will never come to the fore and life in Milwaukee will go on as usual. Whether or not the offending priests will be welcomed in heaven in the next life is the big unknown. One quick confession will do the trick and produce the permit.
LIstecki said that the filing would serve as a kind of final call for all sex abuse claims, allowing the archdiocese to determine its current and future financial obligations to victims. I am sure that the archdiocese will be magnanimous in its offers of settlements, perhaps as generous as Bishop Gomez has been to the two teenage children of Bishop Zavala. After all Bishop Gomez has announced that the archdiocese of Los Angeles will be helping with the college education of the two children. Is this adding insult to injury to the Catholics of Los Angeles? I would not mind getting a refund on my donations to the church instead of having my donations used to fund the college education of the two Zavala children. After all, I have children too who need a college education and I did not make a solemn oath to God to be celibate.
On a lighter note, Twinkies maker Hostess Brands also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. The maker of Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread who had an agreement with the Catholic Church to amend the Lord’s prayer, to “give us this day our daily bread”, to “give us this day our wonder bread” in exchange for 50 years free supply of bread to all Catholic clergy worldwide filed for bankruptcy again. The last time it went through bankruptcy was during 2004 to 2009. The company had $2 Billion of sales but $860 million of operating loss last year. Maybe Catholics are getting fed up with their children being molested by the clergy and the official cover-up and have stopped eating “Wonder Bread”. But the company says that its loss has nothing to do with softening Catholic support. “unusually high labor costs, high distribution and rising costs of ingredients” is the reason for the cash crunch, not Catholics.
God knows the truth.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave Bldg A-1 Suite 1125 Unit 58 Alhambra, CA 91803.
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