San Diego Diocese in Turmoil

Bishop Brom asks Catholics to help pay settlement

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego hopes to raise $25 million in donations to help pay its portion of a $198.1 million settlement reached last month with childhood sexual abuse victims...

If the “Embracing Our Mission” campaign is not successful, [Bishop Robert] Brom said the diocese has only two other properties that could be sold – its headquarters in Bay Park and St. Francis Seminary in Linda Vista...
Brom and the diocese have been heavily criticized for declaring bankruptcy in late February, shortly before the first lawsuits were due to go to court. The diocese said it was seeking a uniform resolution to the 144 cases of men and women who allege they were sexually abused by priests and church workers years ago when they were minors. Victims and their lawyers called the bankruptcy filing a stall tactic.

On Sept. 7, with a federal judge threatening to dismiss the bankruptcy case, the diocese settled for an average of about $1.3 million per case.