The Archdiocese of San Francisco, identified for its outspoken conservative management, has filed for Chapter 11 chapter reorganization, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone introduced on Monday. The submitting is meant to guard the archdiocese from what Archbishop Cordileone described as greater than 500 civil lawsuits filed in opposition to it below a state regulation handed in 2019 that prolonged the statute of limitations for civil claims in baby sexual abuse circumstances.
“We believe the bankruptcy process is the best way to provide a compassionate and equitable solution for survivors of abuse while ensuring that we continue the vital ministries to the faithful and to the communities that rely on our services and charity,” Archbishop Cordileone mentioned in a letter addressed to Catholics in San Francisco.
Archbishop Cordileone signaled the chapter earlier this month, warning publicly that the submitting was “very likely.”
San Francisco is the third archdiocese within the state to file for chapter this yr. The dioceses of Oakland and Santa Rosa filed within the spring, citing the variety of sexual abuse lawsuits filed in opposition to them. The diocese of San Diego, one of many largest within the state, introduced in May that it deliberate to file later this yr.
Overall, a couple of dozen dioceses and archdioceses within the United States are presently in chapter proceedings, in accordance with an inventory maintained by Marie T. Reilly, a professor at Penn State Law. Still extra have emerged from chapter.
The overwhelming majority of documented abuses in Catholic institutional settings passed off many years in the past, making it difficult for victims to hunt authorized recourse. But some states, together with California and New York, the place nearly all of pending bankruptcies are, have enacted a “look-back window” lately that permits victims to convey civil claims that might in any other case be barred by statutes of limitations.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco, which incorporates about 450,000 Catholics, is the one diocese within the state to not have launched an inventory of clergy credibly accused of intercourse abuse, in accordance with legal professionals and survivors’ advocacy teams. Instead, the archdiocese maintains an inventory of monks and deacons in good standing, and removes males from the record if they’re below investigation for baby sexual abuse.
Archbishop Cordileone, who has led the archdiocese since being appointed to the function by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, is an outspoken voice within the ultraconservative wing of the American Catholic Church. He helped lead Catholic efforts to cross Prop 8, a 2008 state constitutional modification meant to ban same-sex marriage within the state.
More lately, he has repeatedly confronted former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who represents a lot of San Francisco, over her assist for abortion rights, saying final yr that she wouldn’t be permitted to obtain communion within the archdiocese.
The submitting of Chapter 11 chapter will halt claims in opposition to the archdiocese, whereas it develops a reorganization plan primarily based on its property and insurance coverage.
The archdiocese itself is the one entity included within the submitting, Archbishop Cordileone mentioned within the assertion. Parochial colleges and particular person parishes, which the archdiocese mentioned are independently managed and self-financed, won’t be affected.
Source: www.nytimes.com