The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland will launch an advertising campaign this week to encourage people sexually abused by priests in Oregon to come forward, according to a church spokesman.
"It is part of a normal bankruptcy procedure to notify" possible claimants, archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said on Monday.
In July, Portland became the first U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy. The move halted two trials seeking $155 million in damages for plaintiffs who claim they were abused by priests.
A federal bankruptcy court has imposed an April 29, 2005, deadline for many abuse lawsuits to be filed. The advertising will let potential claimants know about the deadline, Bunce said.
"You may have a claim against the archdiocese" the ads will read.
Bunce said the archdiocese did not use an ad agency, but "we did put some effort into the ad itself. It will be eye-catching."
The ads will run in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. They will also run in several smaller newspapers, including Catholic publications, in the Pacific Northwest, Bunce said.
The archdiocese will also send letters to 80,000 Catholic households in the Pacific Northwest and to all alumni of three Catholic high schools in Oregon. All the letters will contain some Vietnamese and Spanish.
David Slader, one of the plaintiff's attorneys, said the ad campaign may not reach all of the abuse victims, but admitted "there is no ideal way to address this issue."
"If they were in fact to do a real outreach campaign with TV, radio, pictures of the priests... it would be horrendously expensive and not a good use of resources of the estate," Slader said. "It might also bring on a psychological crisis for some of those that have been abused."
Portland's Archdiocese was the first to file for bankruptcy. Tucson, Arizona, and Spokane, Washington, followed suit. Other archdioceses, notably Boston, have sold real estate to settle claims.
Bunce declined to comment on whether the church is targeting areas where priests accused of abuse worked.
The Portland Archdiocese serves about 390,000 Catholics in 124 parishes in western Oregon. The archdiocese has paid $21 million from its own funds to settle sexual abuse claims in the last four years and $53 million over the last five decades, Archbishop John Vlazny said in July. Insurance companies have refused to cover about 60 current claims, he said.
The sex scandal first surfaced in Boston in January 2002. It sparked investigations that showed the problem was present in dioceses across the United States. A study commissioned by the church found 11,000 people have accused priests of child sexual abuse from 1950 to 2002.