ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star
By Johanna Willett Arizona Daily Star
After 15 years serving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas must submit a letter of retirement to Rome by mid-August.
He has no choice. The church’s canon law requires all bishops to submit a letter by the time they turn 75. Kicanas hits that benchmark Aug. 18.
From there, it’s up to Pope Francis to accept or reject the resignation. Usually, the pope accepts.
But that doesn’t mean August heralds the last days for the current Tucson bishop. Retiring bishops usually serve until the pope appoints a replacement. That can take six to eight months — sometimes longer.
Even after a successor is established, Kicanas, a Chicago native, has no plans to live elsewhere. …
Before Kicanas’ arrival, the diocese had paid $155,000 to settle claims from eight people who reported being sexually abused by diocesan personnel, Star archives show.
The following years would bring a $14 million settlement with 10 men who described abuse by four local clergy members from the 1960s to the 1980s, the sentencing of three priests to prison for sexually abusing children, and 22 lawsuits that drove the diocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004.
“We were faced with abuse allegations, and we had no idea where the end was,” Kicanas said. “The concern was: How do we treat people equally and fairly so that the resources were available to help anybody who would come forward? And that’s when we went into bankruptcy.”
The Tucson diocese followed the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon in the unprecedented move. At the time, plaintiffs expressed concern that the move was a copout.
The reorganization process took a year and involved the sale of diocese properties and creation of a $22.2 million settlement pool for victims both known and unknown, Star archives show.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.