News broke the other day of another Catholic church arm — somewhere in Arizona, I think — that is going to seek bankruptcy protection to (IMHO) avoid paying court ordered settlements to a bevy of abuse survivors still waiting in the wings.

First off, if the Catholic church owns it all, as at times it seems to alledge, then a part of it shouldn’t be able to declare bankruptcy, and the rest of it not have to cover the financial obligations.

Perhaps the “arms and legs” of the church are considered to be franchises. Even the franchisee of a Baskin-Robbins still has to pay his due when one of his employees wrongs someone. If that means the victim owns everything his franchise owned, then that’s the cost of doing business badly. Deal with it.

I know there’s different kinds of bankruptcy, but if a leg of the Catholic church says “they’ll drain us!” and then continues to operate, at what point do they become solvent again? After all the claimants die? After some kind of statute of limitations expires?

I dunno…. This sounds like dirty pool against the victims of these crimes. And I’m not a fan of that!

What’s next…. “I’m sorry, your honor, I’m declaring myself dead, so I can’t serve that prison sentence. What? When will I not be considered dead anymore? When could I conceivably get off from this charge…?” 🙂