September 21, 2005

Catholic Diocese of Orange catching up with sex-abuse claims

SANTA ANA (CA)
North County Times

By: North County Times wire services

SANTA ANA -- Less than a year after paying out $100 million to settle sex-abuse claims against priests, the Catholic Diocese of Orange has repaid most of what it borrowed and expects to be debt-free by July, it was reported Tuesday.

Unlike Catholic officials in Boston, Tucson and Portland, Ore., who sold church property or declared bankruptcy after abuse lawsuits, the Diocese of Orange avoided such drastic steps by liquidating part of its $200 million investment portfolio, the Los Angeles Times reported. Additionally, the diocese might sell its Marywood headquarters in Orange.

Church officials stressed that no parish or school funds were spent on the settlement, The Times reported.

"When a person drops their envelope in the collection basket, they don't want that money to be used to pay off a sex-abuse lawsuit," Father Art Holquin, who chaired the diocese's debt-reduction task force, told the newspaper. "They want it to be used in their parish."

Posted by kshaw at September 21, 2005 08:54 AM