Roughly 400 people who allege that they were sexually preyed upon by local priests and deacons went to bankruptcy court and sought compensation from the Archdiocese of New Orleans before last week’s deadline for victims of clerical abuse to file such claims, church officials said Thursday.

The announcement provides clarity as to the number and potential value of remaining clerical abuse cases that the archdiocese will have to settle or litigate before it can reorganize its finances, a process that started when the church filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last May.

March 1 was the final day a sexual abuse claim could be filed in the case, which is the only avenue for compensation for those claiming they were molested prior to the bankruptcy filing. Whoever had such claims but didn’t pursue compensation by the deadline has forever lost the right to do so.

He said the low number of claims illustrates why bankruptcy protection is “a sinister and effective tool.”

“There is no question that the archdiocese is using Chapter 11 as a … shield to prevent survivors from being able to come forward,” said Anderson, who represents about a dozen clients in New Orleans. “They (would) face so many more claims in time.”

In a statement Thursday, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he and his staff hope “these steps allow survivors of sexual abuse a path of healing” while offering “prayerful support for all victims and survivors of sexual abuse.”

For the sake of comparison, the Diocese of Buffalo filed for bankruptcy last February and the court has given claimants until August of this year to file, eight months more than New Orleans claimants received. The Buffalo diocese, which serves about 700,000 Catholics, estimates it will end up receiving 400 abuse claims, but it’s impossible to know if that will prove anywhere near accurate.

The New Orleans bankruptcy claims do not include dozens, or even hundreds, of abuse survivors who came forward before the bankruptcy case began and agreed to out-of-court settlements with the archdiocese. A significant number of those settlements were made in 2018 and 2019, in the months immediately before and after Aymond released earlier versions of the list of priests and deacons who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors in the New Orleans area over seven decades.

Only an approximation of the final number of claims from church officials is available, rather than an exact number from federal bankruptcy court, because the court-appointed claims administrator is still sorting through documents arriving by mail as well as issues with duplicate or incorrectly filed forms.

The archdiocese has said it filed for Chapter 11 due to significant financial distress from litigation and settlement negotiations surrounding the abuse scandal, as well as revenue decreases associated with activity restrictions spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.

Clergy-abuse creditors have argued the archdiocese is not in financial distress and doesn’t deserve Chapter 11 protection, but the court has not ruled on that question.

Chapter 11 allows organizations to get their books in order while shielding them from the demands of creditors, who have to fill out claims forms proving the bankruptcy entity owes them money.

Archdiocesan officials said Thursday that 430 additional creditors — including several of the churches and agencies under archdiocesan control — claim they are owed money for other reasons, from outstanding utility bills to accidental falls on church property.

An archdiocesan spokesperson said abuse-related bankruptcy claims would be reviewed for referral to law enforcement authorities and church discipline — such as removing a cleric from public ministry — when appropriate. 

Those claims are currently under seal. It is unclear how much their total value might be. Church abuse settlements prior to the bankruptcy could range from tens of thousands of dollars to more than $1 million.