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	Jesuits File for Chapter 11 Anchorage Daily News February 17, 2009 http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/693686.html Another major Catholic institution, hit with lawsuits over alleged sex abuse by priests and volunteers in Alaska and elsewhere, has sought relief in bankruptcy court. The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, on Tuesday filed a 123-page petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland, Ore., seeking to reorganize under Chapter 11. The province includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The court filing estimates liabilities as nearly $62 million and assets as less than $5 million. Earlier this year, 63 Alaska Natives sued the Society of Jesus, priests and others, claiming they were sexually abused in remote Alaska villages from the late 1940s to 2001. Other lawsuits also are pending. Last year, the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, which also has been hit hard by abuse lawsuits, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A total of 292 people brought claims by a December deadline in that bankruptcy case alleging they were abused by priests and church workers. Of that group, 113 people earlier had settled their claims with the Jesuits, said Ken Roosa, an Anchorage lawyer representing many of the abuse victims. But most if not all of the rest will have parallel claims in the new bankruptcy case, he said. The lawsuits contend that the diocese and the Jesuits both were responsible for allowing the abuse to happen. No claims of abuse victims have yet been paid in the Fairbanks bankruptcy, he said.
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