WILMINGTON, Del. — The judge presiding over the bankruptcy case of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington denied a request from attorneys for alleged victims of priest sex abuse to order the bishop to appear at a meeting of creditors.
Attorneys for the alleged victims wanted the opportunity to question the Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly at a creditors meeting tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1.
"The goals of the debtor for transparency, for healing, for atoning, if you will, for what happened to these people requires that this person show up," James Stang, an attorney for abuse victims, said at a hearing this week.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after settlement negotiations failed with about a dozen alleged victims, including eight plaintiffs whose cases were scheduled for trial. More than 100 other alleged victims are pursuing compensation through dispute resolution instead of trials, creating a potential liability that the diocese said it could not afford, particularly given the demands by the plaintiffs in cases set for trial.
The diocese has designated its vicar general of administration, Rev. Msgr. Thomas Cini, as the point man in the bankruptcy case.
"He, by far, has the most institutional knowledge of this diocese," diocese attorney Robert Brady said of Cini, who has served in the diocese since 1958 and has been vicar of administration since 1977.
Judge Christopher Sontchi agreed with the diocese that it made more sense to have Cini appear at the meeting, given that Malooly has been with the diocese for only about a year.
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