The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, faced with possible multimillion-dollar legal verdicts from sex abuse cases pending against its priests, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, church official said.
Saying the decision was the best option, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kinacas said church attorneys filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Monday morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tucson, Arizona.
The bankruptcy filing by the 350,000-member institution follows a July bankruptcy declaration by the Archdiocese of Portland. Critics have challenged the Chapter 11 filings as a ploy by the church to hide assets and avoid liability for decades of abuse by priests.