San Diego ? Rejecting a request from a settlement judge, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Tuesday filed for bankruptcy protection rather than face lawsuits from 150 people who alleged that they were sexually abused by priests.

Bishop Robert Brom said in a statement that if the cases went to court, judgments for the litigants whose cases were first on the docket could “so deplete diocesan and insurance resources that there would be nothing left for other victims.”

The first of the cases was set to begin today in San Diego County Superior Court. The bankruptcy filing will put those cases in abeyance as issues involving the diocese’s assets are decided by a judge.

Mary Grant, Western regional director of the advocacy group Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, called the decision “a morally bankrupt move by a self-serving bishop who’s afraid to face tough questions about coddling and concealing pedophile priests.”