When COVID-19 prompted the suspension of Mass services, weekly collections cratered. Officials said the impact has likely compromised long-term sustainability of parishes that were already struggling before the pandemic.
A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that an attorney for victims of sexual abuse may question retired Bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester under oath about his knowledge of sexual abuse during his years as head of the diocese.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo faces near certain bankruptcy after posting a $5 million loss in 2019, and with a barrage of lawsuits from the clergy misconduct scandal still pending, according to a financial report released Thursday.
2019 in review: Headlines included the U.S. bishops' approval of a plan to implement Pope Francis' Vos Estis Lux Mundi, a document that came out of the Vatican's February summit on the clergy sexual abuse.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester was the first in New York to seek bankruptcy protection under the weight of new sexual misconduct lawsuits, but lawyers and church leaders say it may not be the last.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Warren's transformation; the purpose of a corporation; white evangelicals' psychological baggage; Australia's Catholic meltdown.
Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said the archdiocese planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the recommendation of several consultative groups.
