Maryland ? Delaware’s Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for federal bankruptcy protection on Sunday night, on the eve of a civil trial in a high-profile sex abuse case against the diocese and a former priest.

The bankruptcy filing automatically delays the case in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware.

“This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make,” said the Rev. W. Francis Malooly, the bishop of the diocese, on the diocese’s Web site.

Malooly said the decision was made “after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisers and counselors” and that he believed “we have no other choice.” He said “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.”

The diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics. It is the seventh U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy since allegations erupting seven years ago against Catholic clergy in Boston.