WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times
No one can be happy church property built with the widow's mite and good works is put in financial jeopardy, but a federal bankruptcy judge properly held the Catholic Diocese of Spokane accountable to the law.
Property owned by the diocese can be sold to pay settlements to sex-abuse victims, Judge Patricia Williams of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington ruled last week. If parishioners are angry, the judge is a poor target for their wrath. Take it up with the leadership of the church, which failed them and those who were violated.
The Spokane diocese was the third in the nation to seek protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law, which offers a safe harbor from a storm of sexual-abuse lawsuits. Spokane followed Tucson and Portland into bankruptcy protection.
The diocese was eager to invoke the legal protections of the law, but then argued church canon law superseded civil law, and the diocese was free to decide which property it controlled and which was vulnerable to lawsuits.