FRESNO (CA)
Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield.com)
December 2, 2025
By John Cox
Critics say a deadline approaching early next year in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno’s bankruptcy case amounts to a “huge loophole” that limits clergy sexual abuse victims’ ability to pursue justice.
Any abuse victims who do not meet the Feb. 2 deadline “will be forever barred, estopped and enjoined” from suing the diocese in the future, according to a paid legal notice published Nov. 25 in The Californian.
A victims advocate noted the so-called “bar date” deadline applies not just to adults coming to terms with trauma they suffered as youth, but also to recent victims who typically do not recognize the abuse they have suffered for many years to come.
Director Dan McNevin of victims advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Tuesday the deadline’s expiration will basically lock down the diocese’s files.
“That means society, not just the victims, society will not have visibility to what has happened in that diocese,” he said. “It’s just a huge loophole.”
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 1 after being accused of at least 153 instances of abuse by clergy during a special window for filing claims that otherwise would have expired because of the statute of limitations. The Fresno diocese, which includes parishes in Kern County, was one of at least five in California that pursued bankruptcy protection after the 2019 state law opened the three-year period for people to sue.
Critics called the Fresno diocese’s filing a self-serving tactic that minimizes the diocese’s role in sexual crimes. But Bishop Joseph Brennan defended the filing as a way to address the large number of claims brought forth while ensuring all victims are compensated fairly and that the diocese’s money is “not depleted by the first few cases addressed.”
A spokesman for the diocese declined Tuesday to answer questions about the upcoming deadline or offer any comment on the bankruptcy case.
An attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, a Los Angeles law firm specializing in cases of abuse by clergy, said the publication of the legal notice was required to give notice and opportunity to raise awareness among people including survivors of abuse.
She criticized the diocese’s decision to file bankruptcy in the first place, saying it alters the diocese’s legal liability in abuse cases.
“It limits the mechanisms in which survivors have an opportunity to come forward,” attorney Jennifer Stein said. “It limits the voice they have. It limits the information they are entitled to receive.”
“This is not a process that honors the survivors. This is not a process that gives them voice in the journey,” she added.
The diocese has had repeated instances of reports of predatory priests. Its website lists more than two dozen priests incarnated by, or at one point belonging to, the diocese who it says have faced a credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in the diocese. It lists half a dozen other priests from other dioceses who faced credible allegations of such abuse while serving in the Fresno Diocese.
Six others were classified as facing credible sexual abuse allegations while serving in the diocese under a religious order. An additional 26 priests were named on the website who were not accused of committing such acts while serving in the diocese but who were so accused elsewhere.
McNevin said the average age of an abuse survivor coming forward with an accusation is more than 50 years of age. If not for the bankruptcy filing, he said, victims who are young today won’t be able to file a claim against their abuser unless the allegation comes forward by Feb. 2.
He called the diocese’s bankruptcy “a strategic and cynical strategy” that “only benefits the diocese.”
Anyone wishing to file a claim before the deadline can do so by going online at https://www.bankruptcy.angeiongroup.com/rcbf or by calling 1-800-813-0529. Another option is to visit the Chapter 11 filing of the diocese’s website, https://www.dioceseoffresno.org.