FRESNO (CA)
KVPR - Valley Public Radio [Fresno CA]
July 25, 2025
By Kerry Klein
The boy was just 6 years old when he alleges he was repeatedly pulled from class, groomed, secluded, and acts that describe rape were forced on him by a Kern County priest. That was in 1990. The abuse allegedly continued a decade later, when the plaintiff claims a different authority figure coerced him into performing similar acts, sometimes with his classmates.
Another minor – an altar boy – was allegedly molested on multiple occasions by a Fresno priest when he was between 6 and 10 years old in the 1960s.
And one woman, who was 11 at the time, alleges that, starting in the early 1970s, a Fresno priest groomed her and brought her candy and snacks before eventually allegedly committing acts of rape against her.
These claims are among a deluge of lawsuits – totaling 153 cases – filed against the Catholic Diocese of Fresno following the passage of a state law known as the Child Victims Act. The law extended the statute of limitations temporarily to allow civil lawsuits to be filed for alleged childhood sexual abuse claims, many of which occurred decades ago.
The window to file these claims was open from 2020 through 2022. Lawyers tell KVPR more than 1,800 cases were filed against Catholic institutions across Northern California. Many of the revelations from the abuse accusations are just becoming known.
All three plaintiffs referenced earlier – now adults who filed their claims in Alameda County Superior Court – say they suffered lifelong emotional and psychological trauma from those acts.
In 2021, the Diocese of Fresno released a list of “credibly accused” priests and clergy on its website.
However, the sheer volume of lawsuits claiming abuse, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress prompted the Fresno diocese to declare bankruptcy earlier this month. It’s now the fifth diocese in Northern California to do so. Lawyers say it’s the beginning of a reshuffled claims process that could take years to resolve.
The diocese has not issued any public comments about the matter nor answered media questions since its bankruptcy declaration.
How Chapter 11 bankruptcy works
The diocese filed its bankruptcy petition on July 1 to “address the suffering that victims of the clergy sexual abuse endure,” Bishop Joseph Brennan said in a statement.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t mean the diocese will have to shut down and liquidate its assets. Instead, the diocese will restructure its finances in order to pay down its creditors while still operating largely as normal.
According to the bankruptcy petition, the diocese estimates it has 1,000 to 5,000 creditors in total. Creditors are considered to be any entity that claims the diocese owes it money, including plaintiffs in sexual assault lawsuits.
The diocese also estimates it possesses $50 to $100 million in assets and $50 to $100 million in liabilities. For a non-profit that operates in eight counties and serves an estimated one million Catholics, all these numbers seem relatively unsurprising, according to bankruptcy attorney Riley Walter.
“The diocese is a landlord. So someone has to be managing property. The diocese is going to have insurance. The diocese is going to have employees and employee plans and pension plans. You know, it’s a business,” said Walter, who doesn’t represent any parties in either the bankruptcy or alleged abuse cases.
The sex abuse lawsuits have been stayed in their respective superior courts, and have now been folded into federal bankruptcy proceedings.
In the next few months, Walter said, lawyers representing the diocese will formulate a reorganization plan and assign a claims manager. And as part of the bankruptcy process, that entity will then determine precisely how much the diocese possesses in assets. From there, the claims manager will evaluate which abuse lawsuits are valid and how much money a plaintiff is entitled to – if any.
Walter estimates the entire process could take two to three years.
Questions swirl about bankruptcy delay
Some advocates for survivors have questioned the bankruptcy filing and its timing.
“This is a phony tactic to avoid facing juries and avoid responsibility to the kids who trusted and relied on the church – and who the church, through their own fault, injured,” said attorney Rick Simons, who represents plaintiffs in a handful of Northern California cases alleging abuse by clergy.
The diocese initially signaled in May 2024 that it planned to declare bankruptcy by August 2024. But the official filing didn’t come until nearly a year later.
“What was the reason for this delay?” Simons asked in an interview with KVPR. “Was it because they were moving property, trying to hide and protect assets, the same way they spent all those years hiding and protecting perpetrator priests who were molesting kids?”
Walter, however, said it’s common – and perfectly legal – for entities filing bankruptcy to reorganize their assets ahead of a bankruptcy declaration. Many, he said, even begin planning for bankruptcy long before officially filing.
But, he pointed out, transfers of assets that occur just before a bankruptcy declaration are a matter of legal record.
“The diocese will have to declare and disclose any transfer that it made in the year or two years prior to the petition date,” he said – though they are not required to disclose transfers made before that.
Earlier this month, 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.