SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE. The Catholic Diocese of Portland is filing for bankruptcy! Is it because they gave all their money to the poor? No. Is it because the local Catholics quit giving? No.

It is because of sexual abuse claims.

The archbiship said "This is not an effort to avoid responsibility." But it is an effort to avoid litigation. There are two cases pending and about to go to trial. Filing the bankruptcy petition prevents the cases from proceeding to trial, particularly the one scheduled for the next few days.

The priests in Portland must have been on a veritable child abuse orgy. The diocese has already settled more than 100 claims! It has sixty more pending! That is 160 child sexual abuse claims against one diocese. When did they have time to work?

Other hot spots for priests who cannot keep it in their robes are Santa Fe, New Mexico and,the mother of all sexual abuse dioceses, Boston. Tucson is also considering bankruptcy.

450 lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese in Boston for child sexual abuse. They had to sell 46 acres of land and a four story mansion. Portland's diocese paid out $21 million over the last four years. How would you like to know you were putting money in the offering plate for that?

So far, seven of the suits have gone to trial all over the country, and the church lost them all. The verdicts range from about one million to almost 120 million.

There are those folks who believe pedophilia should be legal. These verdicts might tell them America is not quite ready for that.