SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego may be forced to file bankruptcy rather than pay up $200 million in claims stemming from lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.

Bishop Robert Brom sent a letter to parishioners over the weekend, stating that if abuse victims cannot be fairly compensated through ongoing settlements without "jeopardizing our overall mission … the diocese may be forced to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Should that happen, the diocese - which includes 1 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties - would be the fifth in the United States to seek bankruptcy protections, the Union-Tribune reported.

According to the Union-Tribune, Brom's "pastoral statement" mentioned the abuse victims. "I am profoundly sorry for this betrayal of trust in your lives," he wrote. "On behalf of those who caused you pain, and in the name of the church, I beg your forgiveness."

Brom is expected to elaborate on his comments during a Monday meeting of nearly 300 priests, as part of a pre-Lent gathering, the Union-Tribune reported.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said bankruptcy was a last resort and dismissed questions about the church using legal protection as a national strategy to deal with sex abuse claims.

One Catholic parishioner, 61-year-old Kathy Rolls, said the news came as a shock.

"I can't believe that it would come to such a horrible thing," said Rolls, who was attending St. Patrick's in North Park after Mass today, the Union-Tribune reported.

An attorney representing San Diego plaintiffs said the diocese has enough assets to settle the clergy-abuse claims and described the possible bankruptcy "as a desperate maneuver," the Union-Tribune reported.

A member of Survivors Networks of Those Abused by Priests said any claim of bankruptcy "is a shrewd public relations move by a bishop desperate to keep clergy sex crimes covered up."

"Brom is terribly afraid of upcoming civil trials where he will have to to disclose under oath and in open court, how much he knew about and how little he did about predator priests," said Mary Grant, the SNAP regional director.

She added dioceses that have sought bankruptcy did so on the eve of a potentially embarrassing trial.