San Diego diocese files for bankruptcy

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego diocese has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to handle more than 140 clergy sexual abuse claims equitably. It is the fifth and largest U.S. diocese to do so since 2004.

San Diego Bishop Robert H. Brom announced the decision Feb. 27, the day before the first abuse lawsuit was to go to trial. A last-minute flurry of negotiations between diocesan and plaintiffs' lawyers brought no agreement.

"We put money on the table that would have stretched our financial capability to the limit, but demands were made which exceeded the financial resources of both the diocese and our insurance carrier," Brom said in a statement.

The bankruptcy proceedings effectively put any civil lawsuits on hold.

Brom said, "Chapter 11 reorganization is now the best way available for us to compensate all of the victims as fairly and equitably as our resources will allow."

With nearly a million Catholics, San Diego is by far the largest of the five U.S. dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy since 2004. In its bankruptcy filing, the diocese said it had assets of more than $100 million and estimated debts of more than $100 million.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that plaintiffs' attorneys were outraged at the filing. Terry Giles, an attorney for Nicki Rister, whose case against the diocese was to have begun Feb. 28, told the Union-Tribune that the diocese had negotiated in bad faith and had destroyed records of suspected priests in order to protect them.

Mary Grant of Long Beach, Calif., the western regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said Brom was "afraid to face tough questions."

A statement from Grant's organization said, "Brom claims he's concerned about church assets, but SNAP and others are convinced he wants to avoid embarrassing files and damaging testimony about his role in horrific clergy sex crimes and cover-ups."

--Catholic News Service and NCR staff

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