Did the Portland Catholic Archdiocese Declare Bankruptcy to Avoid or Delay Clergy Abuse Suits?
The Risk of Bad-Faith and Noncooperative Church Bankruptcies By Marci Hamilton hamilton02@aol.com Findlaw.com July 13, 2004 http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040713.html The Portland, Oregon Archdiocese of the Catholic Church has now filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization. Meanwhile, the Tucson Archdiocese has announced it is considering the same option. No one can know for certain what the Archdiocese’s motivations are. But it is clear that a large part of the impetus probably derives from the many clergy abuse lawsuits that have been filed. Indeed, in Portland, Archbishop John Vlazny explained the filing on the ground that “[t]he pot of gold is pretty much empty now.” In choosing the metaphor, he may well have been implying that the victims were gold diggers who had plundered the Church’s finances. The Boston Archdiocese, facing hundreds of clergy abuse lawsuits, also considered bankruptcy. But Boston eventually chose to sell off assets over bankruptcy. As A
