Can't really blame these folks for taking the Chapter 11, honestly.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it faces more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse.
"The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually, and therefore, after much consideration, concluded that the bankruptcy process was the best solution for providing fair and equitable compensation to the innocent survivors who have been harmed," Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a Monday news release.
The archdiocese's reason for filing for bankruptcy is to facilitate "fair and equitable compensation" for the survivors of the sexual abuse that occurred there.
Moreover, the archbishop notes that the filing will not affect "parishes, schools, cemeteries and related organizations," as CNN reports.
On the flip side, well, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because you're swamped with sexual abuse lawsuits is never a great look.
The archdiocese was hit with the hundreds of lawsuits after California briefly lifted a statute of limitations for those claims. Victims were able to come forward with abuse allegations that would normally have been far past the statutory filing deadline.
The archbishop noted that the "overwhelming majority" of abuse cases "stem from allegations of sexual abuse that occurred 30 or more years ago involving priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased."
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