KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
March 13
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Six years after a massive settlement closed the curtain on a dark era of priest sexual abuse scandals, the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese is spending millions on a new crop of cases.
Settlements last month with two families whose minor daughters were victims of a priest convicted of producing child pornography brought to $6 million the total the diocese has paid out since last May. That doesn’t include $7 million the diocese has spent on legal costs involving those and other sex abuse cases the past two fiscal years.
And the end may not be in sight. With more than two dozen sexual abuse lawsuits pending, along with a breach-of-contract case filed by plaintiffs who settled with the diocese for $10 million in 2008, a number of Catholics are wondering:
Is bankruptcy on the horizon?
“Among the active and retired clergy, there is a genuine and sincere concern of diocesan bankruptcy,” said Jeff Weis, a lifelong Kansas City Catholic who initiated a petition drive seeking the removal of Bishop Robert Finn. “There’s a fear that this diocese is being driven into the ground financially.”
A diocesan spokesman said bankruptcy is not under consideration.
“The diocese is not contemplating or in a position requiring bankruptcy,” said communications director Jack Smith.
That’s not the case in other dioceses across the country. In the past decade, 11 U.S. dioceses and two religious orders have filed for bankruptcy protection, three of them since November.
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