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By Miriam Raftery
File photo by MIriam Raftery: Bishop Robert McElroy, now a cardinal, at 2018 bicentennial of the Santa Ysabel Mission.
June 16, 2024 (San Diego) --In a letter to parishioners and clergy on Thursday, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, announced that the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, June 17.
In his letter, the Cardinal states, “The Diocese faces two compelling moral claims in approaching the settlement process: the need for just compensation for victims of sexual abuse and the need to continue the Church’s mission of education, pastoral service and outreach to the poor and marginalized. Bankruptcy offers the best pathway to achieve both.”
But an attorney representing survivors of clergy sex abuse is blasting the action as a deceptive legal ploy to protect church assets and secrets.
After the Legislature extended the deadline for child sex abuse survivors to file claims, in 2007, the diocese settled lawsuits brought by 144 abuse survivors during the 2003 revival for $198 million. In 2023, the most recent revival resulted in more than 450 claims against the Diocese, almost 60 percent of which are more than 50 years old. San Diego will be the fifth diocese in California to file bankruptcy since the close of the Child Victims Act in Dec. 2022.
The Cardinal says the bankruptcy is the result of the “moral failure” of those who abused minors as well as those who reassigned abusers or were not vigilant. The church has taken steps on his watch to protect children, and to help survivors report abuse. McElroy was named bishop of the diocese in March 2015 and in August 2022, he was named a cardinal by Pope Francis.
“May God never let this shame pass from our sight, and may God’s tenderness envelop the innocent children and teenagers who were victimized,” Cardinal McElroy concludes.
But Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents thousands of clergy sex abuse survivors nationwide including 68 in the San Diego diocese, says the bankruptcy comes after “decades of heinous clergy sex crimes, deliberate cover-ups, and the bravery of over 400 victims who are seeking justice. This bankruptcy filing is especially troubling because this same diocese was almost deemed in contempt of court by a judge the first time it tried this shrewd ploy over a decade ago,” he adds.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of clergy sex abuse survivors claims McElroy “allegedly acted fraudulently and deceptively by quietly transferring church assets and property to hide their true ability to pay survivors. The transfer of property is the same thing bishops have been doing with their predator priests for decades. He faces several charges for his shrewd and self-serving behavior,” Anderson states. “These deceptive legal ploys by the church hierarchy are designed to protect their careers, reputations, secrets, and assets. They will prevent and freeze lawsuits by survivors and enable bishops to stop depositions, discovery, and the release of long-hidden abuse secrets.”
Anderson urges “every single person with information or suspicions about predator priests to summon the strength and end their silence.”
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