The Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland filed for bankruptcy protection Monday in the face of 330 child sex abuse claims going back decades, church officials announced.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to stave off individual lawsuits and consolidate the claims in a court-supervised process that will ultimately lead to settlements.
“After careful consideration of the various alternatives for providing just compensation to innocent people who were harmed, we believe this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors,” said Bishop Michael Barber.
“It will also allow RCBO to stabilize its finances and continue the sacred mission entrusted to us by Christ and the Church,” Barber said. “Given our current financial resources, RCBO could not shoulder the burden of litigating 330 cases filed under the recent California Assembly Bill 218.”
That law opened a three-year window allowing childhood sex abuse lawsuits to move forward despite statute of limitations rules that had prevented older claims.
In March, the diocese announced it was considering bankruptcy, just days after the Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for Chapter 11 for similar reasons.
Survivors’ attorneys have criticized the tactic in part because it removes the cases from civil court, where victims are allowed to present evidence of alleged abuse.
17 comments
….follow the money… all a ploy… filing bankruptcy to avoid paying 100% of what is owed… pretty bad when you can’t trust a church but we’ve brought this on ourselves (well not me – you know who / what I’m talking about).
Disgusting
I am not Catholic but I find it hard to believe there were that many abused and it wasn’t brought up years ago. 330 abused kids and none of them said anything? I think a bunch of fallen away alter boys are jumping on the bandwagon. I am not denying some were abused and that is horrible.
I wonder too if all the lawyer commercials soliciting such claims have not brought a lot of false claims out of the brush too. Especially since the statute of limitations was deliberatly extended specifically to bring out more claims against the church. I kind of think it partly political by the Catholic haters. But I see in a statement by the bishop that he wants all people that have been harmed to be healed and compensated justly.
My guy you literally denied they were abused the sentence before you said you weren’t
Glad we’re focusing on drag performers instead of the church. /sarcasm
I hope the court sells all the church assets and gives the money to the 330 victims.
SF Diocese sold churches and property to pay victims
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Strategically, bankruptcy makes total sense.
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And it is legal.
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The state of California removed the statute of limitations in order to allow these accusations (most from 30-60 years ago) to move forward. Most/all of the accused priests are either dead or were removed from ministry a long time ago.
I am a practicing Catholic and have great respect for our Bishop, Michael Barber, who was appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of our diocese in 2013. Bishop Barber has zero tolerance for those abusing minors and I am very confident any priest or church staff member accused of such horrific behavior would be removed from ministry immediately.
Here is a link to the diocese website for more details:
https://oakdiocese.org/chapter-11
How do you prove non consensual touching 30+ years ago? To a level of a big payout?
I wonder what percent of these cases are fabricated for a payout?
Rich: And you know the lawyers are getting half of it!
Mike: thank you for posting link to The Bishop’s letter. I think it’s genuine and nice.
Shame on these Catholic haters they would love to see the church go under. The world would not be as nice a place if that happened. Their Works of mercy and good deeds worldwide is unparalleled.
Rich, that is exactly why statutes of limitations exist. Memories fade or become confused, evidence is lost, victims and perps get old and die. No way to know how many of these cases are fabricated memories and how many are legit. It is not hard for lawyers to find clients since known offenders worked in known parishes for known periods of time.
From what I have heard, chapter 11 will stop the individual cases from going to trial and let the judge decide what the awards per claimant will be based on claimed damages and available resources (insurance payments, diocese assets.).
Are there ways to make tax deductible donations to convents, seminaries, religious retirement homes rather than a church organization that would be protected from real or frivolous lawsuits? Would like to take lawyers out of the equation.
Exactly, young kids had a powerful individual take advantage of them, someone who was SUPPOSED to be the “leader” of their community. And look at all of these comments STILL in 2023 saying they’re “making it up”
Like damn I wonder why they didn’t come forward before.
Mike,
Here is a link to the 2004 John Jay report. The most objective and thorough analysis of the Catholic abuse crisis, which peaked in the 1970’s:
https://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/research/ageofinquiry/biogs/E000094b.htm
Most of the victims (80%) were male and most of those were teen age boys. Sorry you had a bad experience. I think the culture has changed and most/all of the bad apples are gone now. The many good priests I know (and our bishop) just won’t stand for this behavior from fellow clerics or staff. Never again.
I always find it interesting how openly people can be about their hate for Catholics and the church. In other situations, people would be called antisemitic or racist, but for some reason, the catholic church is always fair game.
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