Tucson Diocese reorganizes parishes as part of bankruptcy plan

Published: 2005-12-30

TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- Under a plan approved by a bankruptcy court, the Tucson Diocese is reorganizing each of its 74 parishes into corporations which will be recognized as separate entities from the diocese under Arizona law. This would help protect a parish's property against legal claims made against the diocese or other parishes, said diocesan officials. The plan calls for each parish to be run by a five-member board of directors composed of the pastor as board head, the bishop, the diocesan moderator of the curia, a lay treasurer and a lay secretary. The reorganization was approved last July by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tucson as part of a $22.2 million settlement between the diocese and people who filed claims as victims of clergy sex abuse against minors. "The diocese emerged from bankruptcy Sept. 20. Now we have to implement the reorganization," Fred Allison, director of the diocesan Communications Office, told Catholic News Service Dec. 29.

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