Bankruptcy?

The Boston Globe brings up the specter of banruptcy for the Archdiocese of Boston again. The advantage for the Church:

• All current plaintiffs would be combined into a single group for settlement by a federal court.
• There would be a time limit for the filing of new claims.
• The court could limit lawyers fees.
• Cardinal Law and other bishops would have no more embarassing depositions.
• No more handing over of embarassing internal documents to lawyers for public disclosure.

Of course, for those of us hoping that the upside of the Scandal would be a housecleaning and bringing the awful secrets into the light of day, those last two “upsides” are really downsides. In other words, bankruptcy may bring the worst of the Scandal to a quick end, but it will leave much of the current problem in place.

Another downside, this one for the cardinal himself to consider, is that the only US bishop yanked from his diocese since WW2 was pulled because his diocese went bankrupt.