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	Abuse Settlement Drains SR Diocese's Fund to Repay Loans By Martin Espinoza The Press Democrat September 14, 2007 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEdition/article_view.cfm?recordID=7504&publishdate=09/14/2007 The more than $5 million received by the Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese from the sale of a featured property was originally to be used to pay back millions of dollars owed to other dioceses that loaned the local church money during its near financial collapse under Bishop Patrick Ziemann. But the bulk of the sale will now be used to settle a lawsuit brought by alleged sexual abuse victims of Sonoma priest Father Xavier Ochoa, leaving the diocese strapped for cash and without a clear way to pay back the debt. In his first public comments about the settlement, current Santa Rosa Diocese Bishop Daniel Walsh said he has "not a clue" how that debt will be paid off. "I leave that in God's hands," said Walsh, who contributed $20,000 of his own money to help spur the settlement. The local diocese has agreed to pay $5,020,000 to 10 alleged victims of Ochoa, who is believed to have fled the country soon after admitting to Walsh and other church officials that he had sexual contact with several children. Further investigations by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department led to 10 felony counts of sex abuse involving children in separate families. Ochoa remains a fugitive. The bulk of the payout came from the proceeds of the sale of a valuable diocesan asset known as the Orchard property, located next to the Cathedral of St. Eugene in Santa Rosa. The sale of the property was finalized in 2006 but was optioned to developers back in 2000, the year Walsh came to Santa Rosa with a mandate to clean up the diocese and restore moral and financial order after years of scandal. "We were planning to pay off the dioceses that had lent us about $5 million," said Walsh. "In the year 2000, we were on the verge of bankruptcy." Walsh would not name the dioceses and archdioceses that lent funds to the Santa Rosa Diocese, but according to a 2006 audit of financial statements of the Santa Rosa Diocese, "noncurrent liabilities" to other (arch)dioceses totaled $4,666,458 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. The audit describes the amounts and terms of loans from a number of Catholic jurisdictions, including the archdioceses of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Newark; and the dioceses of Orange, Oakland, Stockton and Sacramento. It's unclear in the audit when these loans were made. Walsh said the local diocese has no more assets, and that the only other asset is a property in Fountaingrove that can't be sold because of the slump in the real estate market. Church critics say it would be naïve to believe that the local Catholic church is out of money. David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the claim of "poverty" could be a way to try to "shame and guilt-trip other victims into staying silent." But Tom Plante, a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University who treats and evaluates both victims and clergy in abuse cases, said local dioceses do not have unlimited resources. "Each diocese has to make the numbers work, and that gets more challenging with each of these settlements," said Plante. "That money doesn't come out of nowhere, and it doesn't come out of the Vatican." The settlement amount includes $20,000 from a "restricted fund" Walsh said he uses for charitable causes that are brought to his attention. "When I get stipends, I put them in this fund and give them to the church," he said. The Ochoa scandal has been a blow to Walsh, who failed to immediately report the Sonoma priest to the proper authorities after he learned of Ochoa's improprieties. Walsh was later investigated by the District Attorney's Office for violating state law, which requires professionals, including clergy, to report alleged abuse to authorities immediately by phone. Walsh's critics say his delay may have given Ochoa time to flee. He has since apologized to local Catholics for delaying his report to the Sonoma County Child Protective Services and to Sheriff's investigators. But Walsh said Thursday that his $20,000 contribution toward the settlement was not made because of feelings of guilt or responsibility. "The two things that I was concerned about was the young boys," said Walsh, referring to Ochoa's alleged victims. "That they would have had to testify and that sort thing in a trial situation." The second reason, he said, was that the diocese had no more money and to come up with more than $5 million would have required cuts in church programs, such as religious education, youth ministries or prison ministries. "To meet the demand of our plaintiffs, we would have had to close something because we're operating on a very tight budget," he said. Cynthia Vrooman, a member of the local diocese and a former member of the lay group Voice of the Faithful, called the settlement a "two-edged sword." "If the victims want the settlement so they don't have to go to court, I think we should honor that," she said. But she said that keeping both victims and church officials off the witness stand also "protects the diocese from having to come to grips with the total problem."
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