Charles Zech, director of Villanova University's Center for the Study of Church Management. Listecki said Tuesday that the filing would serve as a kind of final call for all sex abuse claims, allowing the archdiocese to determine its current and future financial obligations to victims. He said it would have no effect on schools and parishes, which are separately incorporated, although that would ultimately be decided by the bankruptcy judge. The archdiocese created a special e-mail, reorg@archmil.org, where parishioners can send questions about the process, and said they would be answered periodically on its website, www.archmil.org. Chapter 11 bankruptcy typically is filed to give a company or organization time to restructure its debts and work with creditors, with the expectation that it will continue to operate and emerge stronger in the end. During the bankruptcy, the entity operates under the supervision of the court, and a committee usually is appointed to represent the interests of unsecured creditors. As part of the process, the archdiocese will come up with a dollar figure it believes can be allocated to an account to compensate sex abuse claimants, said Marquette University law professor Ralph Anzivino, an expert on Chapter 11 bankruptcies. The amount of the fund is likely to be challenged by claimants, but eventually it will be established by the court. "Let's assume they put $10 million in that account, but the claims are $100 million," Anzivino said, speaking hypothetically. "That means everybody is going to get 10 cents on the dollar. That's how it's going to work." In the recently failed settlement talks, the archdiocese argued that its resources were limited to unrestricted operating assets - which totaled $1.6 million in the 2009-'10 fiscal year - and a portfolio of seven properties worth $5.5 million. In interviews and documents released Tuesday, the archdiocese detailed its assets and explained why some resources could not be used to pay creditors - although at least some of those may be challenged by creditors in bankruptcy court. According to its most recent financial statements, the archdiocese had $98.4 million in assets and $12 million in liabilities in 2010; however, almost all its assets are in restricted and dedicated accounts, it said. The archdiocese said schools and parishes should not be affected because they are separately incorporated under Wisconsin law. However, that defense is being challenged in at least one other church bankruptcy, in Wilmington, where some parish funds were included in the pool of money available to creditors. Restricted funds, endowments and trusts - including the newly formed Faith in Our Future Trust created to hold the proceeds of a $105 million capital campaign - are protected under the legal language that established them, it said.
2011 Media Report Villanova School of Business Page 6