The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, became the second US diocese to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, filing in response to a mounting wave of civil suits arising from decades of priestly sexual abuse.
Bishop Gerald Kicanas framed the move as the fairest available path to compensating victims, not an escape from liability. "I have not taken this step to avoid responsibility," he wrote to abuse survivors in a personal letter accompanying the filing.
The diocese had settled with 10 men in 2002 who alleged priests abused them from the 1960s through the 1980s; reports placed that settlement at up to $16 million. Subsequent litigation had continued to deplete diocesan funds.
Chapter 11 allows an organization to continue operating while it develops a court-supervised repayment plan. Major financial decisions require bankruptcy court approval throughout the process.
Kicanas said the reorganization was intended to reach both victims who had already come forward since the US church scandal broke in early 2002 and those who had not yet done so, expressing personal sorrow to survivors in letters sent to parishioners and victims separately.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.