Tucson, Ariz., Sep 6, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Diocese of Tucson plans to incorporate its 74 parishes and missions as independent nonprofit corporations by April.
The move is part of the diocese’s bankruptcy plan that was approved by federal bankruptcy Judge James Marlar this summer. It would protect parishes from having to pay diocesan debt or from being sold to pay off settlements in sexual-abuse cases.
Incorporating the parish, which simply involves registering the name of the entity with the state as a public person, is actually closer to diocesan organization stipulated in canon law.
"We will now recognize in civil law what has been in canon law from the beginning — that parishes are separate entities," parish incorporation committee member Bob Scala told Associated Press.