The Archdiocese of Milwaukee won a victory in its bankruptcy case yesterday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley agreed to move forward with a key document that, once approved, would put the local church one step closer to exiting its 3-year old chapter 11 proceedings, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported today. Judge Kelley stressed Thursday that she was not taking up the archdiocese's reorganization plan, only its accompanying disclosure statement. Attorneys for the creditors committee, which includes sex abuse survivors, had asked Kelley to delay acting on the statement. They argued that the judge should first decide a separate point of contention: whether the archdiocese had the right to include in the reorganization plan that a pending lawsuit over $60 million in archdiocesan cemetery funds would be settled. Judge Kelley denied those requests, saying that she was determined to move the case forward.
