About 550 people have filed claims for restitution for alleged sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee — the most of the eight dioceses in the U.S. that have sought bankruptcy protection, a lawyer in the Milwaukee case said Wednesday. James Stang, a bankruptcy lawyer who represents creditors in the Wisconsin case, estimated about 550 claims had been filed by the Wednesday afternoon deadline set by the court. The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection last year, saying pending sex-abuse lawsuits could leave it with debts it couldn't afford. The archdiocese has paid more than $30 million in settlements and other court costs related to alleged clergy abuse.

The archdiocese only had $4.6 million in assets to be applied to claims in 2010. The bankruptcy court will decide the final payout, archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said. A victim's advocacy group called the number of filings "extraordinarily tragic," but said that represented only a small portion of people abused by clergy. "It's sad and it just shows how devastating these crimes have been on this community but it's obviously far from over," said Peter Isely, the Midwest director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. More than a dozen sex abuse lawsuits pending against the Milwaukee Archdiocese have been halted due to the bankruptcy proceedings. They include allegations against a priest accused of abusing some 200 boys at a suburban school for deaf students from 1950 to 1974.

Originally posted by MysticPearl

I wonder how many followers Catholicism is losing, given as the years go by we're hearing more and more about sexual abuse, stretching to every corner of the globe. If this were any other part of society I think the uproar would be twice as loud.

I blogged yesterday on a horrific development, a conference being held to begin the push to “normalize” pedophilia, starting with pressure on the American Psyciatric Association to “de-list” pedophilia as a mental disorder. And while I don’t like having much to do with SNAP, since they seem most interested in suing and using the notoriety so gained to push for their often heterodox agenda, they make a valuable contribution today when they note that one of the speakers at this upcoming pedophile normalization conference was an advisor to disgraced Archbishop Rembert Weakland and many other bishops, apparently, on the issue of homosexual priest abuse of young boys. Not only that, he counseled Weakland and other bishops to keep pedophile priests in service and to cover up their crimes:

Dr. Fred Berlin, [Berlin was quoted extensively in the report on the pro-pedophile conference I linked to yesterday] a chief consultant for decades to the American Catholic Bishops and Religious Order Provincials on sex offender priests, will address tomorrow in Baltimore a controversial symposium sponsored by an organization that calls itself “B4U-ACT”. B4U-ACT advocates the decriminalization and tolerance of persons who have a lifelong attraction and desire for sexual contact with youngsters. B4U-ACT, when describing its core values states: “Individuals who are attracted to children are the focus of everything that we do.”

Not surprisingly, Archbishop Emeritus Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, in a deposition taken in 2008, cites Berlin as the chief expert on pedophilia that the U.S. bishops consulted when faced with the growing sexual abuse crisis. (Locally, Berlin was also hired by at least one major religious order, the Capuchin Franciscans.) [This is incredibly disturbing. The man the bishops entrusted to advise them on how to deal with pedophile priests, is an advocate for the de-criminalization of pedophilia?!? How could such an individual be chosen? While the pedophile "normalization" conference is a frightening event, given the success such push groups have had in influencing the American Psychiatric Association in the past, that pro-pedophile group is still a tiny minority. The vast majority of psychiatrists and counselors would take a very different view. How did he wind up getting selected for this very important role?]