Local News Judge allows clergy abuse claimants to sue for parish assets in Vermont Catholic bankruptcy case Judge Heather Cooper said creditors can pursue not only the highest-level bank and building holdings of the state’s largest religious denomination, but also the trust-sheltered local property and possessions of nearly 70 parishes. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court will allow clergy abuse claimants to sue for an estimated half-billion dollars in parish assets to fund settlements under the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s current financial reorganization case. The order doesn’t promise any parish assets, but simply permits abuse claimants to file a lawsuit — what the bankruptcy court labels an “adversary proceeding” — to determine whether they’re entitled to local holdings. The diocese’s leaders and lawyers declined VTDigger’s request for comment, although they filed an 18-page objection to the pursuit of parish assets as recently as July 21. “Absent a declaration,” the abuse claimants’ attorneys wrote in a filing, “the diocese will continue to evade its moral, financial and legal responsibility to the survivors.”