Alaska diocese says it will file for bankruptcy

Published: 2008-02-15

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (CNS) -- The Diocese of Fairbanks announced Feb 13 it would file for bankruptcy, probably before the end of March. "It now seems the fairest and most pastoral resolution" to claims of sexual abuse against church workers in the diocese, Bishop Donald J. Kettler of Fairbanks said in a statement. The diocese said more than 140 people have filed about 150 claims against the diocese. The most recent abuse asserted in a claim took place in the 1980s, although some cases go back to the 1950s. Settlement talks, started last summer, have snagged because an insurance company has been reluctant to "participate meaningfully" in the talks, a diocesan announcement said. The diocese was insured by three different insurers over the period covered in the sex abuse claims. Filing for bankruptcy is "the best way to bring all parties together and to provide for fair and equitable treatment of all who have been harmed," the bishop said. "I am legally and morally bound to both fulfill our mission and to pursue healing for those injured."

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