(Albany, NY) – On Monday, a federal bankruptcy judge will hear arguments about the 2018 Albany Diocese’s role in the $3.75 billion sale of Fidelis Care.
While there is a lot we still don’t know, what we do know is this:
The Diocese of Albany and the Catholic bishops of New York State have repeatedly sought to keep assets under the Bishops’ control and out of the reach of sex abuse victims and other creditors like the pensioners.
The pensioners’ committee has accused the Diocese of Albany of bilking taxpayers and pensioners by lying about payments made into the Fidelis pension plan. As a result, hundreds of retirees run the risk of financial insolvency.
If that was not enough, we know that the Diocese of Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger and the rest of the New York bishops quickly pushed the Fidelis sale through in 2018 and deposited billions of dollars into the Mother Cabrini Foundation. They did this with the express purpose of shielding those assets from survivors of child sexual abuse on the eve of the passage of the New York Child Victims Act.
The basis for the sale is clear and the purpose of the money transfer is obvious: the bishops want to deprive sex abuse survivors and well-deserving pensioners in favor of the bishops’ own wealth and power.
The Diocese of Albany and every bishop across the states owes answers. They owe answers to the court; they owe answers to survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of New York clerics; and they owe answers to pensioners and taxpayers, who are being forced to foot the bill for the bishops’ misdeeds.
We hope that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Littlefield, Jr. ignores the dioceses’ pleas of innocence and forces the bishops to turn over all the evidence they have about the Fidelis sale, the Mother Cabrini Foundation, and all activities that attempted to shield money from survivors and pensioners.
The hearing can be attended in-person or via telephone. The hearing will be held at James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse on Monday, September 18th, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Details for Monday’s Hearing:
Address:
Judge Littlefield’s Courtroom
James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse
445 Broadway
Albany, New York 12207
Call-In Information:
877-402-9753
Access Code: 4954900#