Trying to work things out:

No Catholic parish property or school will be sold or encumbered in a far-reaching bankruptcy reorganization of the Archdiocese of Portland announced Monday that will settle as many as 170 legal claims by victims of sexual abuse by priests.

The reorganization will resolve the nation’s first bankruptcy involving a Roman Catholic diocese in response to sexual abuse lawsuits. It also ends the possibility that the parish and school properties could be ruled the legal possessions of the archdiocese, and therefore be used to pay millions of dollars in claims to abuse victims.

Details of the reorganization plan and the total cost of legal settlements to date will not be released until the plan is filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court next Monday.

In the meantime, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan and Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure have imposed a gag order on attorneys and all parties involved with the case.

The reorganization and settlement agreements, brokered by the two judges serving as mediators, have been in the works since mid August. To date, about 150 legal claims against the archdiocese have been settled, Hogan said in a news conference Monday. About 20 claims remain to be settled or tried.