Santa Fe Archdiocese Incorporating Many Parishes

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe of the Roman Catholic Church has incorporated dozens of its parishes as nonprofits, a move that an attorney who has represented victims of clerical sexual abuse says could be an attempt to protect church assets.

Attorney James Stang of Los Angeles incorporating parishes as separate entities allows them to argue they have no responsibility for abuses at other parishes.

The archdiocese hasn’t explained why it incorporated most of its 92 parishes but the Albuquerque Journal reports that the action follows similar steps by several other dioceses in the region.

The archdiocese and its attorney did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment, and a spokeswoman for the archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment Monday.