Members of the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in the Fresno diocese learned over the weekend that money they contributed for a new church building will instead be used in an ongoing bankruptcy settlement.
The fallout stems from a July 2025 bankruptcy filing by the Catholic Diocese of Fresno in response to a surge of sexual abuse claims. The resulting settlement will require the diocese to liquidate assets like unused property and use money on hand to pay victims who were sexually abused by clergy.
During a Sunday Mass livestreamed on Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church’s YouTube page, Monsignor Perry Kavookjian told parishioners that despite money contributed by them being earmarked by the church for a separate fund to help pay for a new building, the diocese placed it into a general fund account that lawyers for the victims argue is fair game…