The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, facing potentially huge judgments for past sexual abuse by its priests and other ministers, filed bankruptcy Thursday morning.
The diocese filed a petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rochester at about 9:30 a.m. The petition estimates the diocese’s assets as $50 million to $100 million —and its financial liabilities as $100 million to $500 million.
Rochester’s diocese becomes the first of New York state’s eight dioceses, and the 20th nationwide, to seek protection from creditors in bankruptcy court because of financial fallout from the Catholic Church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
The bankruptcy filing does not mean the diocese is penniless and does not mean its churches will close.
Read more at Rochester Democrat