The Catholic Diocese of Oakland on Monday filed for bankruptcy after it was hit with 330 sex abuse lawsuits.
A group advocating for survivors of abuse by Catholic priests said the church’s move is a disingenuous way to avoid compensating victims.
But according to the bishop, bankruptcy will provide a fair outcome while protecting the church.
“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,” Bishop Michael C. Barber said in a letter to parishioners. “It is important we take responsibility for the damage done so we can all move beyond this moment and provide survivors with some measure of peace. Sadly, for many, the pain caused by these horrific sins, no matter when they occurred, will never wash away, which is why we offer support to survivors and pray for their continued healing.”
Barber also addressed the victims of the abuse.
“We know the pain inflicted against our children and young people decades ago continues to cause great suffering,” he wrote. “I am deeply sorrowful about this reality and pray daily for all impacted. As Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, there is sin and evil in the world, even in our Church. But there is also virtue and mercy in abundance. We must address the sin and move forward as instruments of God’s mercy and holiness.”
Barber said that given the diocese’s “current financial resources,” the church “could not shoulder the burden” of litigating hundreds of cases filed under the recent California Assembly Bill 218, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits against any institution accused of enabling abuse.
The prospect of financially crippling lawsuits has put other California dioceses to consider the same move. The Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for bankruptcy protection in March, saying it did not have money to settle more than 150 child sexual abuse lawsuits. The Sacramento and San Diego dioceses are also considering bankruptcy.
Oakland’s bankruptcy filing came as no surprise to the Survivors Network, otherwise known as SNAP, who were immediately critical of the move.
“Everything about this bankruptcy strikes us as wrong,” SNAP’s open letter states. “It is all about keeping money and secrets.”
SNAP survivors said that Oakland does not deserve to declare insolvency because the Diocese owns a $200-million Cathedral and acres of land in Piedmont, Orinda, Lafayette, and Danville.
“It is not poor, in our opinion,” SNAP said, “except perhaps in spirit and integrity.”
SNAP survivors said that this bankruptcy does not just affect those who have filed lawsuits – once the deadline for filing claims in a bankruptcy has passed, injuries inflicted before that deadline are all extinguished.
In addition to financial woes, Barber noted people aren’t going to church as much anymore, either. In Oakland, he said Mass attendance dropped 42% in 2021 from 2019 due to the pandemic and was off 46% from the five-year average.
Barber said most of the claims brought under the most recent California statute stem from allegations of sexual abuse that occurred in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ’80s by priests who are no longer active in ministry or are dead.
The Chapter 11 filing will allow the church to reorganize and use insurance coverage to settle claims with sex abuse survivors, Barber said.
Barber added that all of its Catholic schools are part of separate legal entities and therefore not included in the filing and will continue to operate as normal. Employees will be paid as usual, and their benefit programs will continue uninterrupted. Vendors will be paid for all goods and services delivered after the filing, the Diocese said.
The Diocese of Oakland serves two counties in the East Bay region, Alameda and Contra Costa, and includes approximately 550,000 Catholics in 84 parishes.
Original story on KTVU.
With more than 85 percent of the abuse cases involving homosexual priests and post-pubescent boys, how can some claim that gay priests aren’t an issue?
There is more than one reason why the Church teaches that men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies are not to be admitted to seminary.
God loves us all, but that doesn’t mean all of us should be admitted to seminary and ordained priests.
Yes: the only sexuality is heterosexuality. Everything else — all the alphabet people and the rainbow ideologies — is pure evil. Heterosexuality is innate. You have to be taught or conditioned by abuse or social pressure to deviate from heterosexuality.
We need real, manly, heterosexual men as priests. Not the gay Fr. Brian Massingales and Dan Horans and James Martins who want the church to welcome and celebrate the gay unions of homosexuals.
550,000 Catholics divided by 84 parishes equals a little over 6,500 Catholics per parish. But, you see, only about 25% of Catholics practice by attending Mass at least monthly, so there are really only about 137,500 Catholics being served in the diocese. That’s about 1,600 Catholics per parish. Cut that in half to get the average weekly Sunday Mass attendance per parish.
Oakland is a dying diocese. Parish closures are coming.
Oakland is a dying city: public school enrollment dropped from 80,000 in the ’70s to 34,000 this year. No kids means no families means less faith. It’s not all the fault of the Diocese.
There is an enormous flaw in your methodology and therefore a flaw in your diagnosis.
First your methodology. Your simplistic math alone doesn’t justify your diagnosis (“dying”). There may be areas in that Diocese that are dwindling in the number of Catholics, but there may also be areas that are booming. You fail to take into account shifts in demographics. So yeah, parishes may close in areas where Catholics are not moving in; but conversely there may be areas there that are growing. Did you even consider that? Therefore your diagnosis that this is a “dying diocese” is flawed in that sense.
Secondly, not only is your simplistic methodology flawed but you also fail to take into account the fact that God watches over His Church. He said that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You merely applied your simplistic math to a supernatural fact, the existence of the Church in any part of the world. There will always be the Church in that part of California, and in every part of the state because God will not allow His Church to die. Anywhere. You are wrong.
Jon:
The Church of North Africa, which gave us many saints and scholars (including Cyprian and Augustine) is no more. God guarantees His Church will remain, but does not guarantee current geographies. It is entirely possible (although I will not say likely) that the Catholic Church will disappear from the territory of California.
The Church in North Africa is no more? Haven’t you heard of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt which has a Cathedral in Cairo and with a membership of over 187,000? Egypt is a North African country. And don’t you remember Pope Francis’ visit to Morocco in 2019, a predominantly Muslim country, yet has a Catholic population of over 23,000? And Morocco is in North Africa. And didn’t you know that in Algeria, there is still the Diocese of Constantine-Hippone whose Bishop is Nicolas Lhernould who watches over a flock of over 600 faithful? And Algeria is in North Africa. That’s just 3 counties. I can go on.
The Church may have decreased in number, but as long you have a little flock, you have the Church.
Abuse from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The trouble did not start after Vatican II, as harmful as that council was. Look at the Bishops’ Accountability website — the number of abusers ordained before and after the council is about equal. The Church had real problems before that event.
That is a good point. Men and women would not have suddenly fled priestly and Religious life in droves in the 70’s had the pre-Conciliar Church been as strong and pristine as some seem to claim it was. The Church has had to deal with the problem of gay priests since the 12th century.
“The trouble did not start after Vatican II, as harmful as that council was.”
What was “harmful” about the Second Vatican Council, Patrick O’Brien?