The first Catholic diocese to ever exist in America has filed for bankruptcy in anticipation of a wave of sex abuse lawsuits, The Baltimore Banner reported.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore made the move in the wake of a new state law that was passed in April which opens the church to a flood of legal claims. This Sunday, Maryland’s statute of limitations will lift, allowing claims for alleged crimes that happened years ago. As The Banner points out, bankruptcy effectively halts the litigation.
In an interview with The Banner ahead of the bankruptcy filing, Archbishop William E. Lori said the church is anticipating an onslaught.
“There’s going to be lots of lawsuits, more than our resources can handle,” Lori told The Banner. “Why not come to the table now? Why not get going? Why delay?"
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“Let’s enter a process that we think and hope and pray will be fair and equitable,” he added. “We just felt that now was the time.”
“If we were to litigate the first few lawsuits that were filed, that would exhaust our resources and we would have little or no ability to assist many other people,” Lori said. “Our desire was to do this as equitably as we can.”
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Read the full report over at The Baltimore Banner.