Judge's donations cloud rulings in Catholic bankruptcy case

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Judge’s donations cloud rulings in Catholic bankruptcy case

By JIM MUSTIAN
April 21, 2023

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, The Associated Press found, an apparent conflict that could throw the case into disarray.

Confronted with AP’s findings, which have not been previously reported, U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry abruptly convened attorneys on a call last week to tell them his charitable giving “has been brought to my attention” and he is now considering recusal from the high-profile bankruptcy he oversees in an appellate role.

“Naturally,” Guidry told them, “I will take no further action in this case until this question has been resolved.”

AP’s reporting on Guidry and other judges in the New Orleans bankruptcy underscores how tightly woven the church is in the city’s power structure, a coziness perhaps best exemplified when executives of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints secretly advised the archdiocese on public relations messaging at the height of its clergy abuse crisis.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/catholic-church-sexual-abuse-clergy-saints-law-471b6d07f3335c4452f9a58654264494

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_G._Guidry