[Moosilauke]

Is it possible for a church to declare bankruptcy? If this were any private business faced with this kind of legal prospect they'd simply throw in the towel. There are already something like 100 victims of Geoghan lined up to collect their winnings in the pedophile lottery. Juries are not going to be very sympathetic to the good cardinal on this. Awards (or negotiated settlements) are going to be very large. We probably haven't seen the end of the Geoghan victims yet. Every jury award will convince more former victims to come forward with a civil suit. There will be no shortage of lawyers ready to assist them. (Probably more lawyers than devout Catholics in Boston these days.) And remember, Geoghan is only one of how many known pedophiles who have been sheltered by the church? It must be difficult for church-going Catholics to put that envelope in the collection plate every Sunday, knowing that most of it is being used to pay legal damages.