Milwaukee Archdiocese Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Review Ruling On Cemetery Fund

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Milwaukee is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case about cemetery trust funds that might be key to the church’s ongoing legal battle with clergy abuse victims.

A federal appeals court recently ruled that the archdiocese couldn’t shield a roughly $70 million trust fund for its cemeteries from creditors and abuse victims in the church’s four-and-a-half-year bankruptcy case.

Now, the archdiocese wants the nation’s high court to review the ruling, saying the Chicago-based appeals court encroached on religious freedom and differed from other appellate rulings in similar cases.

Clergy abuse victims, who say the church has “begrudgingly” offered small settlements with hundreds of abuse survivors, say religious freedom isn’t enshrined in the Constitution to cover up sex crimes.

A victims group said the archdiocese’s request for Supreme Court review will just create more expensive delays and run up the church’s bankruptcy legal bill, which is already estimated to be close to $20 million.