SACRAMENTO (CA)
KCRA TV [Sacramento, CA]
December 10, 2023
By Lysée Mitri
Amid hundreds of lawsuits accusing clergy of sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento announced on Saturday it intends to file for bankruptcy.
Bishop Jaime Soto said he believes it is the most transparent, fair and respectful way to address all the claims.
“It’s a very dark legacy in our history, and we have to respond for that,” Bishop Soto said. “And I have to, as bishop, I have to try to make amends for that.”
The Diocese of Sacramento said it faces more than 250 lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. It said a court would oversee the distribution of assets, dividing things up as equitably as possible amongst survivors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.
Otherwise, the Diocese said, funds would be exhausted with the first cases that go to trial, leaving the rest of the survivors with nothing.
However, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) does not see it that way.
“I don’t think that filing for bankruptcy is a way of making amends to these survivors,” said Melanie Sakoda.
She said she is concerned that bankruptcy protection will limit the assets available to survivors and limit transparency.
“It’ll make a big difference in what information becomes available to the public about, and to parishioners, about who abused in the Diocese of Sacramento,” Sakoda said.
The bishop said he still intends to be as transparent as he can, and he said the decision to file for bankruptcy was a tough one.
“I’m sure people are going to be mad at me or mad at the church, and there will be some people who try to blame the victims or blame the attorneys,” Bishop Soto said.
Instead, he is calling on the Catholic community to pray for the survivors, saying that it is “the sickening sin of sexual abuse”, and the failure of church leadership to address it appropriately, that led to this point.
The Diocese of Sacramento said the significant number of claims followed a 2020 California law, which created a three-year window for adult victims who were abused as minors to file civil lawsuits that otherwise would not have been possible because of how long ago the alleged incidents occurred.
About 80% of the current cases involve allegations that date back to the 1980s or earlier, according to the Diocese of Sacramento.
This is just the latest bankruptcy announcement. The Dioceses of San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton and Santa Rosa have already filed for bankruptcy while the Diocese of San Diego had also announced that it planned to do the same.