I was in Federal Bankruptcy court this morning to show support for the victims of sexual abuse when the Archdiocese Bankruptcy plan was decided, a plan the victims felt was unjust and unfair. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has already spent 11 million plus fighting the victims and was proposing a very small amount to some of them. When I got there the hearing was already in process and being in the back of the hall I had a hard time hearing. But I did make out the lawyers for the Archbishop, who in the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church calls the shots making statement and objections over and over again. Finally the Judge said she would not make a decision on the plan today but wanted to go over it and ask the Archdiocese and insurance companies to clarify things.

When an old friend left I did too, figuring I would read about what happened or did not happen in the newspaper tomorrow. The lawyering up of the Archdiocese to fight tooth and nail the victims of sexual abuse really bothers me. Instead of reconciliation and settlement the last Archbishop of Milwaukee and the present one have decided to hide away in trust as much money as they could and spend the rest on lawyers fighting the victims. I knew money matters in politics, the one with most money usually wins, but now I am learning that money works in the criminal justice system. Poor people get little justice while those with money can spend so much to win.

People in solidarity with poor and marginalized can never win any victory, even human rights, any longer in justice system. People have tried it with major corporations like Wal-Mart or McDonald’s only to spend lots of money and lose. One of the parishes the Archdiocese, closed in 1993 to form the merged parish of Blessed Trinity, was sold for a million and half dollars. However, then the Archdiocese sued the new owner hired a bunch of lawyers, lost in court and blew most of it on lawyer fees. The leftover funds where at Blessed Trinity and when the Archdiocese closed and sold that church the money went to a ‘trust fund’ to protect it from anyone, including the poor and needy.

The Supreme Court of USA says institutions are people and money is free speech and destroys restrictions on campaign funding. Where is all the money going? To the lawyers and rich as you would expect.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.