this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
354 points (99.7% liked)

News

23320 readers
4083 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it faces more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse.

“The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually, and therefore, after much consideration, concluded that the bankruptcy process was the best solution for providing fair and equitable compensation to the innocent survivors who have been harmed,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a Monday news release.

all 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Heresy_generator@kbin.social 116 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's absolute bullshit that an organization as unfathomably, obscenely wealthy as the Catholic Church can break off parts of itself and pretend they're separate entities for the purpose of denying victims their due compensation.

[–] AttackBunny@kbin.social 50 points 1 year ago

Don’t forget the tax exemption status.

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They should just lock the doors and auction everything off.

[–] Cheesus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I don't understand how people don't have the will to end the Texas two step bankruptcy

[–] athos77@kbin.social 77 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just a reminder that, back in the 80's, when the Church became aware that they had a major sexual abuse problem in the US, they took immediate action. They took out a few billion in insurance policies that would pay out sexual abuse claims (they got the insurance incredibly cheaply, too!). They destroyed files, or moved them to Washington where they became protected by diplomatic immunity. And they continued their practice of moving abusive priests to new locations without warning the parishoners and denigrating, ignoring, and threatening the survivors. They also made sure that each diocese was a separate entity, and moved as many assets into other organizations as possible.

They deny there is a problem, and viciously fight any blame, guilt, reparations or payments. When priests potentially face repercussions, they're moved to other countries or "retired", often out of reach out the justice system. If they're forced to pay out, they rely on insurance to pay most of the money. If they themselves are forced to pay out, they immediately claim hardship and bankruptcy.

The Church is not to be trusted.

[–] banditoitaliano@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Absolutely. I live in Milwaukee where the local archdiocese already did the whole bankruptcy deal years ago. Somehow they got to pay a small pittance to the victims, get out of everything else, and they still own all of their (very lucrative) property. And that’s not just the church buildings, but their giant lakefront campus and no doubt tons of other non-house of worship property.

And that was after all of the documents were released showing the leadership was completely aware of the problem and covering it up just like everywhere else.

It’s a complete sham and abuse of the bankruptcy system.

[–] keeb420@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I think Canadians had the right idea a few years ago.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

The Catholic Church literally has ~~rape~~ litigation insurance.

It's a shame they haven't gone completely bankrupt.

[–] garretble@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I’m no expert, but it seems like if they wanted to avoid all this they could have just not sexually assaulted all those kids.

[–] Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Let's not just run around spouting wild and crazy ideas. Have you prayed on this and spoken to God about it? Perhaps it was part of God's plan all along for those children. Bet you didn't think about that did you?

[–] keeb420@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or do the right thing when they know someone is molesting kids and get police involved.

[–] argo_yamato@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah having morals and principles aren't really their jam

[–] Ryan213@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Priests: no dice!

[–] ohlaph@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

I feel like sexual related crimes should not he included in bankruptcy, you know, like student loans.

[–] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] BeMoreCareful@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago

Eww god lol.

Nobody needed those words together.

[–] ScrollinMyDayAway@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

No, no, NO! It's the drag people at the libraries that do this!

[–] iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There was a post on Reddit awhile back... Of a real website... For sexual abuse insurance that the priests could use...

What the fuck.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah you can insure anything, even after the fact. The company that owned the twin towers insured them after they fell; it's a literal bet that victim payouts won't be as high as predicted.

[–] keeb420@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not against the idea. It's not like pedophiles are gonna announce they are pedofiles at hiring. However if, like the catholic church, the organization knew or reasonably should've known the person was a pedophile and let them work with children they shouldn't get paid or if the organization failed to do a background check on someone.

[–] iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I mean it sounds like normal [sexual assault] insurance for any business that hires people, but I'm pretty sure this one was specific to the church... Idk that creeps me out.

[–] insomniac@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

That’s an evil looking cathedral

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Ryan213@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Father Jack!