FRESNO (CA)
KVPR - Valley Public Radio [Fresno CA]
July 2, 2025
By Samantha Rangel and Kerry Klein
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that’s been anticipated since last year when the church first announced it was addressing past claims of sexual abuse at the hands of its clergy.
The Diocese is facing more than 150 claims of abuse. In a statement released Tuesday, the Bishop of the Diocese Joseph Brennan said the voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing was needed to “address the suffering that victims of the clergy sexual abuse endure.”
The diocese first signaled its intent to seek bankruptcy protection in May 2024, when the church publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse cases it would face. At the time, church leaders stated the Diocese expected to file for bankruptcy protection in August 2024 in anticipation of having to settle cases.
Many of the abuse claims stem from actions that took place decades ago but were filed under the Child Victims Act. The 2019 state law allowed expired claims of abuse to be filed within a three-year period. That window closed in 2022 and results from the claims are just now becoming known in a number of institutions ranging from government to school districts and churches.
Four other dioceses in Northern California have filed for bankruptcy for similar reasons, including those in Sacramento, Oakland and Sacramento, as well as the Archdiocese of San Francisco. News outlets report the Diocese of Monterey was also considering filing for bankruptcy due to mounting lawsuits last year, but no final decision has been made.
Accused clergy in the Diocese of Fresno
The claims against the Fresno diocese first came to light in 2021, when the church published a list of approximately 50 clergy members that have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The web site also includes court documents and updates on some cases.
The list includes priests and deacons who have served in parishes across the Diocese’s territory in the San Joaquin Valley. Some clergy members were appointed as far back as the 1940s. Of the many listed, over two dozen are dead and others have retired or have an unknown status.
“I imagine the faithful may be dismayed by the news of our serious financial situation, but I ask them to let go of their distress and turn their hearts towards the victims of abuse,” Brennan said in a 2024 press release.
The Diocese of Fresno serves an estimated one million Catholic parishioners across Fresno, Madera, Merced, Kern, Kings, Tulare, Mariposa, and Inyo counties. In 2023, the Diocese opened St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Visalia – a $21 million church that can seat roughly 3,000 people and is considered the largest Catholic parish church in the country.
Filing for Chapter 11 means that the Diocese will reorganize its finances under the supervision of a court, which will include establishing a compensation fund in which plaintiffs who filed claims will be represented as creditors.
According to the Diocese, its coffers may not possess enough assets and insurance to cover all of the anticipated settlements. The goal of bankruptcy, they say, is to ensure that all victims are compensated while avoiding depleting the Diocese’s resources altogether.
The bankruptcy process would also allow the church to manage a large number of lawsuits collectively, rather than through individual trials, which could have threatened the financial stability of the Diocese.
Catholic parishes and schools are not officially part of the bankruptcy process since they operate under separate legal entities.
Brennan said the Diocese was confronting the allegations “with diligence and care” and while maintaining “the highest standards for the protection of the vulnerable and our youth.”
Survivors say bankruptcy limits justice for victims
But some advocates for survivors of sexual abuse say the bankruptcy filing is strategic, and that seeking bankruptcy protection allows the accused institution to avoid trials.
“By forcing survivors into Bankruptcy Court, [the Diocese is] once again denying responsibility,” attorney Jeff Anderson wrote in a press release shortly after the Diocese filed for bankruptcy. Anderson’s firm, Jeff Anderson and Associates, is representing many survivors of the alleged abuse.
The advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests questions the timing of the bankruptcy decision. In a statement, a representative wrote that the longer these cases take to resolve, the more plaintiffs are likely to die – and take their testimony with them.
Rick Simons, an attorney who also represents plaintiffs in these cases, suspects the delay in declaring bankruptcy was strategic, too.
For instance, as soon as the church signaled it would be filing for bankruptcy last May, Simons told KVPR that he and other attorneys paused all legal proceedings in anticipation of the filing. Now, however, he argues that they could have continued had they known the actual filing would take so long.
“During that time, these people could have brought their cases to trial,” he said. “They could have had their public hearing, their day in court, they could have been able to have responsibility imposed by a jury – and they lost those rights.”
Simons filed a motion in Alameda County Superior Court asking a judge to demand evidence from the Diocese on why the bankruptcy filing was postponed for so long.
He filed his motion on Monday – the day before the Diocese officially filed its petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Simons argues the timing was not coincidental.
“In my view there’s a whole lot more to this than meets the eye,” he said.
Samantha Rangel reports on stories for KVPR in the Fresno and Clovis areas. After growing up in the town of Firebaugh, Samantha is now enrolled at California State University, Fresno. There, she is studying to earn her B.A. in Media, Communications, and Journalism. Before joining the KVPR news team, she was a reporter for The Westside Express, where she covered education and other local news in Firebaugh. See stories by Samantha Rangel
Kerry Klein is an award-winning reporter whose coverage of public health, air pollution, drinking water access and wildfires in the San Joaquin Valley has been featured on NPR, KQED, Science Friday and Kaiser Health News. Her work has earned numerous regional Edward R. Murrow and Golden Mike Awards and has been recognized by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Society of Environmental Journalists. Her podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool was named a podcast “listeners couldn’t get enough of in 2021” by the radio aggregator NPR One. See stories by Kerry Klein