December 5, 2004

We have come together to express our deep concerns about your possible plans to seek bankruptcy protection for church assets. At a bare minimum, we respectfully urge you to delay any such decision and spend the next few weeks in genuine dialogue with Spokane Catholics about the needs of all parties involved: victims, lay people, clergy, and parish employees.

For you to run into court at this point, without any real consultation with or explanation to your flock, would be unwise, unjust and unhealthy, we feel.

For weeks you have spoken of your intention to choose bankruptcy. Nevertheless, we continue to hold out hope that you will reconsider. It seems inevitable that should you opt to seek bankruptcy protection, the entire diocese will become captive to an uncertain, lengthy, expensive and embarrassing legal process that will surely delay healing, justice and closure for everyone.

Just a few weeks ago, Pope John Paul spoke publicly of a ‘crisis of confidence’ in the institutional leadership of the American church. He talked of the need for a ‘shared responsibility’ between the lay faithful and the hierarchy. We hope you will listen to and embrace his call for greater collaboration within the body of the Church.

You have, no doubt, talked with chancery office staff, your lawyers, your public relations professionals and others about possible bankruptcy.

We applaud you for doing this. But in the interest of openness and transparency, which you and your brother bishops have long promised, we beg you to go further, and enable your flock and your staff from across the entire diocese to have a chance to talk with and listen to you directly on this vital matter and on the abuse crisis which has been a source of pain and shame for so many in the Spokane area.

We humbly suggest that in the weeks ahead, you schedule and personally attend one open meeting in each of the diocesan deaneries, at which parishioners and church employees could learn from you about the diocese’s situation and ask questions.

Then, and only then, we might then feel better about a course of action that seems likely to embroil everyone - victims, lay people, clergy, and parish employees – in years of perhaps preventable conflict.

Sincerely,

Molly Harding, Michael Ross, the survivors of clergy sex abuse and their supporters