Judge approves diocese payouts

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District Court of Minnesota approved a $39.2 million agreement between victims-survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the Diocese of Duluth earlier this week.

The decision gives final approval to a joint agreement reached earlier this year between the diocese and attorneys representing survivors and victims of clergy sexual abuse. It marks the end of a nearly four-year bankruptcy process for the Duluth Diocese and will settle claims against the diocese and against 30 parishes. The diocese, all its parishes, and several other Ca...