The Archdiocese of New Orleans began a three-week confirmation trial Monday that will determine whether a federal bankruptcy judge signs off on a $230 million settlement meant to compensate 650 clergy abuse survivors and resolve one of the nation’s longest-running and costliest church bankruptcies.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill will decide whether the plan — five and a half years in the making — is fair to the survivors and dozens of other creditors who have waited through repeated delays, contentious negotiations and a protracted legal fight over a 2021 state law giving survivors of decades-old child sexual abuse the right to sue.

Before the main confirmation issues could be argued, the court took its first step: beginning to formally pull 150 parishes, schools and ministries i

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