“In a normal bankruptcy proceeding, you wouldn’t have this kind of testimony,” Zdunek said. “But we felt it was important, as we have from the beginning, to represent the victims — not only from a legal perspective, but also to have their voices be heard.”

Zdunek offered a preview of how he expects the survivors testimony to unfold, describing the statements as an important breakout from a technical process that’s focused on monetary determinations.

“We tend to get caught up, especially for bankruptcy proceedings, with all the legalese, and then we forget about the human side of what has happened here. … This is just straight stories, uninterrupted,” Zdunek said. “There won’t be any challenges from legal teams, from the debtor, from the court, from anyone, which is extraordinary.”

The filing from the survivors committee cites two previous Catholic Church bankruptcy cases where judges have given victims the opportunity to present statements in court. One was involved the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; the other was for the archdiocese in Guam.

Attorneys for the Baltimore survivors committee wrote that victim statements in those cases “served as an important step in the process of healing, communication, and atonement for Survivors and the Church.”

“An opportunity exists in this case to allow Survivor claimants a meaningful voice early in the process,” their filing said. “Pursuing this opportunity would communicate clearly to Survivor claimants that their voices are valued, that their suffering was (and remains) real, and that their histories will no longer be silenced or overlooked in deference to transactional or institutional priorities.”

Teresa Lancaster, an Annapolis attorney who survived abuse in the Catholic Church as a child and advocates for other victims, called the potential for survivor testimony particularly meaningful, given that many victims wanted to pursue lawsuits in state court under the Child Victims Act.

“It’s a great move for survivors,” Lancaster told The Sun. “Many of the survivors have related to me that they wanted to tell their stories, because if we had gone to court, we would’ve been able to tell our stories before juries.”

Also, survivors attorneys said they expected such testimony would draw further attention to the case ahead of the deadline for survivors to file abuse claims in bankruptcy court. Though the bankruptcy proceedings are expected to span years, the deadline, known as a “claims bar date,” is May 31.

Reserving the right to present further survivor statements, the committee asked Harner to set aside two hours during hearings April 8 and May 20 for victim testimony.

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