Another Catholic Diocese Files for Bankruptcy

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, making it the seventh diocese in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy.  The Boston Globe reported the filing.  The proximate cause for the filing was a civil case that was the first of eight sex abuse trials about to begin against the diocese and a Catholic priest.  The filing for bankruptcy automatically delays the civil case.

The bishop of the diocese, The Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, in a statement on the diocese's website, said that this became the best option to protect the rights of the possible victims of sex abuse.  Thomas Neuberger, the lawyer for 88 of the alleged victims expressed his dismay at the delay:  "This filing is the latest, sad chapter in the diocese's decades-long 'cover-up' of these despicable crimes . . . ."  

The Diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern shore of Maryland.

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