Baltimore Archdiocese Files For Bankruptcy Ahead Of Likely Lawsuits

BALTIMORE, MD — The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday, a day before a new Maryland law eliminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits goes into effect, according to a report.

Archbishop William E. Lori announced the bankruptcy in a letter to an archdiocesan email list of 120,000 people, the Baltimore Banner reported. In an interview with the Banner ahead of the filing, Lori said church leaders weighed their options for months.

“There’s going to be lots of lawsuits, more than our resources can handle,” Lori told The Banner. “Why not come to the table now? Why not get going? Why delay?

The filing comes just three days after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released a substantially unredacted version of a 463-page grand jury report detailing allegations of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the cover-up of that abuse by Catholic church leadership.

• RELATED: Maryland AG Releases Unredacted Baltimore Archdiocese Sex Abuse Report

The new report is available to view on the Maryland attorney general's website.

The original report detailed "a long history of widespread abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy," Brown previously said. It also identified nearly 160 former and current priests, as well as other members of the church who are accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children over eight decades.

In May, attorneys Ben Crump and Adam Slater announced a plan to file a series of lawsuits against the Baltimore Archdiocese on behalf of survivors. The announcement came after Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill eliminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits.

The law takes effect Oct. 1. The lawsuits, which accuse the Archdiocese of failing to take action against the rampant sexual abuse, will be filed after that date.

According to an Associated Press report, the Baltimore Archdiocese has paid over $13.2 million for care and compensation for 301 abuse victims, including $6.8 million toward 105 voluntary settlements in the past four decades.

The archdiocese has reported nearly $250 million in assets, according to the Banner. In the bankruptcy filings, church lawyers estimated the organization has 1,000 to 5,000 creditors and liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion.

In an interview with the Catholic Review, Lori said the bankruptcy filing would help provide equitable settlements to victims of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese.

“If we try to litigate them individually, the first few victim-survivors who come forward will get the majority of the assets and there won’t be anything else left for anybody else,” Lori told the publication.