San Diego Diocese Files for Bankruptcy

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Nohome said:
I recently read that bankruptcy worked out very well, both for the victims and the Tucson Diocese. Bankruptcy doesn’t mean the victims need to be cast off and forgotten.

Still, those who think the sex abuse scandals are history have another thing coming. This will plague the church for generations.

Nohome
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Generations? How so? That seems like quite an overstatement.
 
rlg94086 said:
Yes. What does that have to do with the priest scandals?
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You believe the whole scandal is forgotten? A thing of the past? I believe these are some of the lasting ramifications:

Splinter groups like VOTF
Victims that leave the church (and their children, grandchildren)
Less interest in vocations
Crushed morale of priests (many innocent carry a huge cross)
Stigma in secular society

None of these are things that can’t be overcome, but it will take a long time. A generation is 20 years, I think it is safe to say the issue will remain an issue long after that.

Nohome
 
I don’t. Maybe ***a ***generation, but not generations. It certainly isn’t the same scale as the Protestant Reformation. 😛

VOTF is not large

Yes, it is sad that victims and their families may leave the Church; however, some will be reconciled.

Vocations are on the rise in many areas.

I haven’t met a priest with a crushed morale. They are saddened by the situation, but we have some great priests!

Catholic “stigma” in secular society existed before the scandal, and will continue. We are “in this world, but not of this world.”

The Church will survive, and I think we are in for a surge of faithfulness as the Church recovers from post-Vatican II overreaches by liturgists.
Nohome said:
You believe the whole scandal is forgotten? A thing of the past? I believe these are some of the lasting ramifications:

Splinter groups like VOTF
Victims that leave the church (and their children, grandchildren)
Less interest in vocations
Crushed morale of priests (many innocent carry a huge cross)
Stigma in secular society

None of these are things that can’t be overcome, but it will take a long time. A generation is 20 years, I think it is safe to say the issue will remain an issue long after that.

Nohome
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As someone who grew-up in Poway (in the North County of San Diego) and attended a diocesan school/parish for close to a decade (in the 80s), I am glad that the bishop has moved to protect the vital mission of the parishes/schools/social services from the greed of anti-Catholic lawyers. Though I’m sure many of the victims are legit and deserve help (which they have received and will receive), at least one of the lawyers has revealed his true motive, to shame and perhaps even cripple the Church, by saying, “If I were a Catholic in San Diego, I would be ashamed.” Why should today’s SD Catholics be ashamed of, and punished for, the evil done – for the most part – by a handful of long-dead priests? For that matter, why should Bishop Brom be held to account for abuse that – for the most part – happened before he was even a priest? This, like much of the legal action in these abuse matters (removing statutes of limitation,etc.), is contrary to American law and constitues a grave injustice to Catholic parishioners. How does victimizing us make justice for abuse victims?

Regarding who owns parishes, my own former diocese of Tucson restructured itself so that parishes are owned by their parishioners, though operated by the bishop and under his control. This was done to protect the parish assets and buildings from greedy lawyers in Arizona who explicitly stated that it was not their concern if parishes closed and Catholics parishioners and missions were harmed! So, Bishop Brom was very wise to protect the Church from these gold-digging lawyers. Their cause is not the justice they so haughtily cloak themselves in, but to silence a Church they hate. May God protect us from them!
 
Kristen said:
As someone who grew-up in Poway (in the North County of San Diego) and attended a diocesan school/parish for close to a decade (in the 80s), I am glad that the bishop has moved to protect the vital mission of the parishes/schools/social services from the greed of anti-Catholic lawyers. Though I’m sure many of the victims are legit and deserve help (which they have received and will receive), at least one of the lawyers has revealed his true motive, to shame and perhaps even cripple the Church, by saying, “If I were a Catholic in San Diego, I would be ashamed.” Why should today’s SD Catholics be ashamed of, and punished for, the evil done – for the most part – by a handful of long-dead priests? For that matter, why should Bishop Brom be held to account for abuse that – for the most part – happened before he was even a priest? This, like much of the legal action in these abuse matters (removing statutes of limitation,etc.), is contrary to American law and constitues a grave injustice to Catholic parishioners. How does victimizing us make justice for abuse victims?

Regarding who owns parishes, my own former diocese of Tucson restructured itself so that parishes are owned by their parishioners, though operated by the bishop and under his control. This was done to protect the parish assets and buildings from greedy lawyers in Arizona who explicitly stated that it was not their concern if parishes closed and Catholics parishioners and missions were harmed! So, Bishop Brom was very wise to protect the Church from these gold-digging lawyers. Their cause is not the justice they so haughtily cloak themselves in, but to silence a Church they hate. May God protect us from them!
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:amen:
 
Filing for bankruptcy prevents trials that would expose molester priests. Also allows enough time for molester priests to flee to Mexico, as did Fr. Ochoa from Santa Rosa, and many others.

B. Brom himself has been accused of coercing seminarians into homosexual relations in Minnesota when he ( B. Brom) was bishop of Duluth. and , in fact, paid a settlement of $75,000. to one of the men.

He also told reporters in San Diego, on July 3, 2002, that “no large financial settlements” had been paid because of sexual misconduct since he was made coadjutor bishop in San Diego. When, in fact, documents show that B. Brom was personally involved in a $250,000 payoff to one man by the Diocese of San Diego in Dec 2001. (23 priests had been accused with other payoffs made)

(documents quoted in Randy Engel’s book Rite of Sodomy - Homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church.)
and this link to the Boston Globe article in 2002.
boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories2/070302_settlement.htm

Randy Engel is a VERY respected author, being published by HLI (Fr. Paul Marx’s Human Life International and also by Tan Books)
She is founder and director of US Coalition for Life, working with Fr. Paul Marx in the 70’s
(all this info is from her book, which is very well written, easy to read, and LOADED with footnotes referencing all kinds of documents and news reports.)

riteofsodomy.com/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId=5

The history of B. Brom’s past and the bishops he’s been involved and associated with (8 pages in the book on B. Brom alone) is really scary.

These days, you can’t automatically assume anything a bishop does publicly is actually motivated by a sense of what’s good for the Church. Gotta dig deeper.
 
Angels_Watchin said:
Filing for bankruptcy prevents trials that would expose molester priests. Also allows enough time for molester priests to flee to Mexico, as did Fr. Ochoa from Santa Rosa, and many others.

These days, you can’t automatically assume anything a bishop does publicly is actually motivated by a sense of what’s good for the Church. Gotta dig deeper.
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I fail to see how a civil case, such as seeking damages for sexual abuse, can or will precipitate a criminal case. If there are criminal cases to be pursued, they should be independant of any civil action.

I fail to see this as a way to hide abusers, it is really more about putting a fence around the liability. In doing so, the diocese and it’s insurance carrier can more effectively address the civil cases against them. This model worked out best fot the church and the victims in Tucson.

Nohome
 
Ive been living here in Beautiful San Diego now alittle over 2 years. I never knew the churches here were so caught up in this scandal. In fact I just saw Bishop Brom a few weeks ago at the Convention center for Newly Converted Catholics. I really thought he was inspiring but now hearing all this about him makes me somewhat perplexed about whos in Leadership Out here.

Please Pray for My Churches in San Diego that we may Live up to our Calling and be Saints… I love my City San Diego and Feel its one of the greatest places to Live in our Country.

I pray now that we can Get things back on track
 
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