Detroit Archdiocese transfers assets to remove them from liability

[MineralMan]

So, what do you do when the victims of your Priests' sexual abuse of children are going to cost your Diocese a pile of money after lawsuits? Like private corporations, you try to hide your assets and shift them around, and then file for bankruptcy because you don't want to pay the full amount. Here's how the Archdiocese of Detroit is trying to get out of paying in full for its past sins and criminal activities. Nice, huh? God Bless Their Black-Robed Little Hearts!

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/12/14/detroit-archdiocese-transferring-assets/2302809002/

Detroit Archdiocese transfers assets; critics say it's a shell game

The Archdiocese of Detroit transferred hundreds of parishes this year to a separate real estate corporation, a move critics say is similar to attempts across the country by the Catholic Church to shield assets from lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sex abuse.

For the six-county archdiocese, which includes 313 parishes, this is a first step toward creating an individual corporation for each parish, archdiocese spokesman Ned McGrath said Thursday. He said U.S. dioceses had been encouraged by church leadership to make such a change since 1911, and timing has nothing to do with concerns over lawsuits, which have already cost the church billions of dollars.

Terry McKiernan, co-founder of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks the abuse crisis, said this is a shell game to protect those assets from seizure through lawsuits regarding child sex abuse. He compared it to several other cases, such as a fund the Archdiocese of Milwaukee used to try to protect tens of millions of dollars in assets when it entered bankruptcy.

[snip}

Across the United States, about 20 dioceses and other religious orders have filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of clergy sex abuse claims, the Associated Press reported last week. As a result, victims' advocates say they are seeing trends across the country that include shifting of assets to other funds or parishes, a tactic previously used in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Southern California.

[Voltaire2]

1. That's exactly what the gods wanted.

It says you should hide all your assets, metaphorically, right in the Big Book O Bullshit.

[Major Nikon]

2. Bankruptcy judges aren't stupid

Gifting all your assets to your bestie while going through a divorce doesn't help you either. No shortage of people who have tried and failed.

[MineralMan]

3. I'm not following all those bankruptcy filings, really.

So, I don't know whether those dioceses and archdioceses are being successful in hiding or sequestering funds in that way. I know they're trying, though.

Here in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis, its chancery and Archbishop's residence went on the auction block. I don't know where the new Archbishop is living now, but I suspect he's not in some 2-bedroom apartment.