U.S. Catholic Diocese files for Chapter 11

The diocese became the seventh in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection and its filing came one day before the scheduled start of a civil trial against a defrocked priest.

"This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," Wilmington Bishop W. Francis Malooly said in a statement on the diocese website. "However ... I believe we have no other choice and that filing for Chapter 11 offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese."

In the filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Sunday, the diocese listed estimated assets of $50 million to $100 million and estimated liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

Malooly said three years ago his predecessor, the late Bishop Michael Saltarelli, released the names of 18 Diocesan priests who had admitted, corroborated or otherwise substantiated allegations of abuse of minors.

"All such information is in the court records of the cases scheduled for trial on Oct. 19, and we believe that no significant new facts would have emerged at trial," Malooly said.

The diocese faces 142 claims and Malooly said it had been negotiating an agreement with all abuse claimants.