Bishop Seitz video statement<\/p>\n
In his video statement, Bishop Seitz said he took the decision to file for bankruptcy following prayer, discernment and consultation, \u201cas the financial claims against the diocese far exceed our financial means.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the Chapter 11 filing was aimed at achieving two goals \u2014 \u201cto equitably compensate those who have been harmed, and to carry on the essential ministries of the Church in our diocese, so we can continue to meet the news of all who rely upon the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bishop Seitz also stressed that the filing applies only to the diocese itself, and not to its separately incorporated parishes, schools and affiliated Catholic entities, such the diocesan Catholic Charities foundation.<\/p>\n
He also noted that lawyers for the dioceses had already met with survivors and their attorneys ahead of the bankruptcy petition, and had \u201creached resolution on many issues already\u201d due to \u201cseveral candid, transparent and fruitful meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diocese of El Paso resource poor<\/p>\n
The bishop said in court documents that despite encompassing a major metropolitan area, the Diocese of El Paso\u2019s territory is \u201cgeographically vast, rural, and poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany communities within these counties experience poverty rates well above national averages, and socioeconomic challenges affect parish life throughout the region,\u201d said Bishop Seitz in his court declaration.<\/p>\n
He also noted the impact of \u201coverall demographic shifts\u201d \u2014 including aging longtime parishioners and migration patterns along the U.S.-Mexico border \u2014 on parish registration numbers and financial support.<\/p>\n
Because of its lack of financial resources, the Diocese of El Paso is classified as a mission diocese, which requires sustained aid to deliver basic pastoral services to the faithful. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a> takes up an annual collection<\/a>, typically in April, to support home mission dioceses.<\/p>\n Yet even with that aid \u2014 with grants ranging from $2.5-4.5 million annually \u2014 the Diocese of El Paso is still unable \u201cto address our structural deficit or the unprecedented legal costs we face now,\u201d Bishop Seitz said in his court declaration.<\/p>\n The diocese has experienced net losses ranging from almost $387,000 to more than $1.6 million over the past three fiscal years, he said.<\/p>\n Diocese details accountability efforts<\/p>\n In its filing, the diocese stressed it was not seeking to avoid its responsibilities to claimants, noting it had released a list of credibly accused clergy after undertaking a comprehensive 2019 review of priests and religious who had served since 1950, regardless of the change in diocesan boundaries prior to and after the Diocese of Las Cruces\u2019 creation in 1982.<\/p>\n The review had yielded 30 out of 1,000 priests and religious deemed to have credible accusations. The diocese \u201chas not received any credible reports of clergy abuse of a minor in which the abuse is alleged to have occurred after 1998,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of you may feel disheartened, frustrated or angry at the allegations that some clergy, called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and administer the sacraments, instead chose to harm the children in their pastoral care,\u201d said Bishop Seitz in his video statement.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI too share those emotions and have often wondered how individuals committed to caring for God\u2019s people could have done such things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs your bishop, I apologize to abuse survivors for the harm, pain and suffering they experienced and continue to experience in their lives,\u201d said Bishops Seitz. \u201cIt is my prayer that through this process, we can reconcile with each other and walk together toward the loving presence of Jesus Christ in our midst.\u201d<\/p>\n Admitting a \u201cdifficult journey\u201d ahead, he added, \u201cWe will continue to serve the Lord with all our hearts, through whatever trials may come.\u201d<\/p>\n Gina Christian<\/a> is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"7 (OSV News) \u2014\u00a0The Diocese of El Paso, Texas, filed for bankruptcy March 6, citing financial strain from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-193973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306T1750-EL-PASO-BANKRUPTCY-FILING-1814748-1024x682.jpg\")
People enter St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in El Paso, Texas, March 24, 2025, in this file photo. (OSV News photo\/Bob Roller)<\/p>\n