OREGON
The Oregonian
Friday, July 01, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
The fight over who owns Roman Catholic parishes in Western Oregon took a major step forward this week when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris allowed the creation of a class of defendants -- including all past, present and future parishioners -- who will be sued over the issue.
In addition, three parishioners and three parish priests this week volunteered to represent the class, which Perris has yet to certify.
The class, which will include at least 390,000 Catholics and all 124 parishes within the Archdiocese of Portland, will join the archdiocese as a defendant in a property dispute that has been brewing since last August.
The dispute is one of the main issues in the archdiocese's bankruptcy, which commenced nearly a year ago in the wake of hundreds of millions of dollars in sex-abuse claims.
The plaintiffs, a committee that represents clergy sexual-abuse claimants, contend that about $600 million in parish assets belong to the archdiocese and are thus available to pay their claims. The archdiocese argues that its assets are only $19 million and that the rest, though held in the archdiocese's name, actually belongs to the parishes as separate entities.
The legal action has been stalled over the issue of whether the parishes should or shouldn't be part of the suit. Now that the parties have agreed to include the parishes, the suit can move forward.