Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled yesterday that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee (Wis.) must release to its bankruptcy creditors documents that could show whether a federal judge, who sided with the church on a key issue involving its cemeteries, might have had a conflict of interest that should have been disclosed, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today. Kelley issued the ruling after a brief hearing yesterday, stressing that it was not a commentary on U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa’s July 29 ruling or whether he should have recused himself from the case. Judge Randa ruled last week that forcing the church to use even some of the more than $50 million it set aside in a trust for the perpetual care of cemeteries to pay its bankruptcy debts — primarily sex abuse settlements — would substantially burden its free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and a 1993 law aimed at protecting religious freedom. Judge Randa’s ruling, which overturned an earlier decision by Judge Kelley, was a key victory for the archdiocese in that it eliminated one of the last major assets available for a settlement with sex abuse victims who filed claims in the bankruptcy.
