Bankruptcy court stacks odds in New Orleans church’s favor over abuse claims: ‘I’ve never felt so powerless’

Chapter 11 protection is designed to give an organization time to reorganize its finances to pay its debts but victims of clerical abuse feel frustrated by a lengthy and opaque process

• Read part 1 of our series here

This is the second installment of a three-part series exploring how the archdiocese of New Orleans's bankruptcy stands apart from other cases of its kind. The first installment ran on Wednesday 29 November 2023.

In 2020, facing nearly 40 pending clergy sex abuse lawsuits, New Orleans's Catholic archdiocese took Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, giving the organization time to sell properties or reorganize assets to negotiate debt payment.