IOWA
Quad-City Times
Deirdre Cox Baker dbaker@qctimes.com
When Martin Amos was announced as the eighth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, it was two days after the diocese became the fourth in the United States to declare bankruptcy because of clergy abuse lawsuits.
Amos moved to Davenport from Cleveland, Ohio, city of his birth and his home for six decades. Weeks before he moved, he sat with a reporter from the Quad-City Times and promised he would work to promote healing among abuse victims and also to restore financial health to the diocese.
Ten years later, the diocese still is recovering from the bankruptcy, trying to meet the spiritual needs of nearly 100,000 Catholics in the 78-parish diocese that covers 22 counties in the southeast part of Iowa.
Amos knew of the bankruptcy decision before he left Ohio. He accepted the decision “with humility and concern for the survivors of abuse and for the diocese,” according to spokesman, Deacon David Montgomery.
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