On the day that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2019, Bishop Salvatore Matano renewed his apology to those who had suffered sexual abuse by priests or other church personnel, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. The volume of sexual abuse claims and the diocese's bankruptcy case are inextricably linked. Its chapter 11 filing came just a month after New York state opened a one-year legal window to file civil lawsuits for past instances of sexual abuse. Nearly two years have now passed since the Rochester diocese filed its chapter 11 petition with the diocese and victims still at an impasse. The deadline to file claims against the Diocese of Rochester came and went last August, but there have been few signs of any progress towards a resolution. Instead, the two main parties in the case have become deadlocked, filing a series of competing legal motions last month asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren to intervene and complaining that the other side was being unreasonable in the court-ordered mediation process. Last week, Judge Warren made it clear that he’d had enough. At the outset of a hearing conducted by telephone July 9, Warren noted that he’d read every word of the more than 1,000 pages of legal filings, urging the parties to keep their oral arguments brief. What followed was each side explaining in great detail why the other side was responsible for the lack of progress in mediation. A lawyer representing abuse survivors accused the diocese of trying to make “backroom deals” with insurance companies to limit the amount of money available to pay survivors. Another lawyer, representing the diocese, countered that the amount of money being sought was “out of the stratosphere” and “completely unrealistic.” Eventually, Judge Warren appeared to tire of the back and forth and interjected. Judge Warren made clear that he expected to see some significant progress in the short term, and that if he were called upon again to resolve a stalemate, it was likely that everyone would walk away unhappy. “The court wishes to remind the parties that if the path to non-consensual resolution persists, all parties are at risk for an unfavorable outcome,” Judge Warren said.
