As Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese prepares for the first court hearing on its request for bankruptcy protection, the state’s largest religious denomination has yet to address its parishioners about the potential impact.“The diocese intends to continue its business while it restructures its debts,” Bishop John McDermott wrote in an affidavit filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Burlington.But neither McDermott nor any other church official has yet to publicly elaborate to the state’s reported 100,000 Catholics, even as their lawyers from the Minnesota firm of Fredrikson & Byron are set to appear at a hearing Thursday.The diocese’s request for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, sparked by continuing lawsuits alleging past child abuse by priests, would affect only the state administrative office and not the separately funded local entities it oversees, including 63 parishes, 12 schools, three residential care homes and Vermont Catholic Charities.At least 10 attorneys are representing the more than 30 plaintiffs with unresolved misconduct claims that are now on hold.“We’ve been committed to seeing these cases through, and we remain committed to do that through the bankruptcy proceeding,” John Evers, a Burlington lawyer representing 14 clients, said in an interview Tuesday. “Hopefully this will provide as good an opportunity as any for getting a full understanding of the extent of the diocese assets, not simply what’s reported publicly.”In its court filing, the diocese — the nation’s 40th Catholic entity to try to reorganize finances depleted by misconduct claims — is seeking an emergency order for permission to continue its $200,000 monthly payroll for 54 employees who include clergy, educators, program coordinators and support staff.“Without the employees,” McDermott wrote in his affidavit, “the diocese could not continue to provide resources, leadership, religious, and other services to the diocese’s constituents, nor could it effectively pursue and implement a reorganization for the benefit of all creditors.”The diocese has yet to share its specific financial figures but instead estimated its assets at between $10 million to $50 million, its liabilities at between $1 million to $10 million, and its number of creditors at between 100 to 199, with more than 30 unresolved priest misconduct lawsuits said to be its largest unsecured claims.As a result, the diocese is hoping to curb future cases by asking the court to establish a process so others would have to submit their own allegations by an April 1, 2025, deadline.The diocese has publicly disclosed 40 priests who have faced credible accusations of misconduct. Most of those incidents occurred between 1950 and 1980, with all reported clergy removed from ministry and 30 now deceased.The church, ultimately spending more than $30 million for settlements by 2013, thought it was done with such payoffs with the previous year’s arrival of a state deadline for filing any related actions. Then the Vermont Legislature adopted laws in 2019 and 2021 repealing the statute of limitations for submitting civil claims, leading to a new wave of cases.Since the change, the diocese has settled 20 more lawsuits by spending a collective $4.5 million from regular operating funds and unrestricted investments, it reported.“As a religious organization, the diocese has no significant, ongoing for-profit business activities or business income,” its filing said. “Due to the lack of insurance coverage and the diocese’s depleted assets, the diocese is concerned that too large of a settlement with a select group of pending cases or a judgment in favor of a single plaintiff could leave the diocese with insufficient assets to fairly compensate other survivors and creditors.”In his affidavit, McDermott wrote that the church “is not filing this bankruptcy case in an attempt to avoid any responsibility regarding sexual misconduct by clergy or any mistakes made by the diocese’s administration.”“Due to the number of civil cases and claims filed against the diocese and limitations of the diocese’s resources,” McDermott continued, “the diocese determined that reorganization under Chapter 11 is the only way to fairly and equitably fulfill the diocese’s obligations to all survivors of sexual abuse.”Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese remains silent after filing for bankruptcy.