Lawyers and survivors of childhood sexual abuse are reviewing more than 25,000 pages of internal Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese documents relating to clergy abuse, diocesan finances and personnel files, the Buffalo News reported. Diocese lawyers began handing over the files in December under the terms of an agreement that they hashed out with abuse survivors who make up the committee of unsecured creditors in the diocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, according to multiple sources. Whether the general public will be able to examine the confidential records someday remains unclear and likely will be subject to intense negotiations during the bankruptcy proceedings. In exchange for the records, the creditors committee agreed not to press forward with sex abuse lawsuits against individual parishes and other Catholic entities. The committee also agreed to keep confidential the contents of the diocese documents — at least for now.
