(RNS) The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Del., has become the seventh U.S. diocese since the clergy sex abuse scandal broke in 2002 to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, its bishop announced Sunday (Oct. 18).

The action, taken just before a trial was to begin Monday involving eight cases against the diocese, was for the benefit of victims of sexual abuse, Bishop W. Francis Malooly said in a statement. “…filing for Chapter 11 offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese.”

Malooly said he had hoped the diocese could reach a settlement with more than 140 claimants.

“Our concern throughout the negotiations was that too large a settlement with these eight victims would leave us with inadequate resources to fairly compensate the other 133 claimants, and continue our ministry,” the bishop said.

Thomas Neuberger, a lawyer representing dozens of people with claims against the diocese, called the bankruptcy filing a “desperate effort” to conceal information about abuse.

“This filing is the latest, sad chapter in the diocese’s decades-long `cover-up’ of these despicable crimes, to maintain the secrecy surrounding its responsibility and complicity in the sexual abuse of hundreds of Catholic children,” Neuberger said in a statement.

In his announcement, Malooly denied that was the intent of the bankruptcy filing.

“The Chapter 11 filing is in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct by clergy — or for mistakes made by diocesan authorities,” he said.