Under Bishop Robert Brom’s leadership, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has desperately tried to dodge responsibility for 144 sexual abuse claims.

On Brom’s watch, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection and lied about its assets, a last-ditch effort to short change victims of rape and indescribable psychological and emotional abuse.

And under Brom’s thumb, attorneys for the diocese settled last week, a $198.1 million payout to the victims, before 42 cases could be heard in court.

The Bishop should be burdened with a deep sense of shame, not only for how he handled the case: He should be ashamed of his priorities; he should be ashamed of his lies; and he should be ashamed of his hypocrisy.

When the diocese filed for bankruptcy, Brom said it would provide “fair and equitable compensation for all the victims of abuse, without disrupting the core mission of the church.”

The diocese’s “fair and equitable compensation” was a $94 million settlement it offered in February, after submitting a fictional report of the church’s assets. Minus attorneys’ fees and split 144 ways, the $94 million offer was neither fair, nor equitable – it would not have compensated victims (not that any amount of money will) for the lingering trauma of sexual abuse.

But, it would have guaranteed that allegations the diocese covered up the sexual abuse for decades never hit newsstands. And that may be the church’s core mission.

In fact, it’s something at which Brom has become quite good.

Take the way Brom’s aides mishandled Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga’s case for instance. Not sure who that is? We’re not surprised. The diocese tried to sweep the case under the rug.

Omemaga fled San Diego after reportedly confessing to church officials that he repeatedly abused a 14-year-old girl in Chula Vista. The diocese suspended Omemaga, but allowed him to return to his home country, the Philippines. Diocese officials didn’t immediately alert the police when Omemaga returned to San Diego, and he vanished again.

In 2002, when the sex abuse scandal rocked the church, Brom lied to parishioners. He told them that during his time with the diocese it had not paid any large settlement in a sex abuse case.

Not true. Later, media reports forced Brom to acknowledge a $250,000 settlement the San Diego diocese paid to a man who alleged he had been molested as a boy.

The Boston Globe reported Brom’s own sexual misconduct. A former seminarian alleged that Brom, then the bishop in Duluth, Minn., and other high-ranking church officials, had forced the boy to have sex with other boys. Brom touted his innocence when the man recanted his statement – after the diocese paid $85,000 in hush money. But the incident raises eyebrows and questions about Brom’s past.

When the diocese filed for bankruptcy in February, it conveniently omitted its parishes’ assets from its reports (funny how it included them when it applied to banks and bond markets).

The diocese also failed to report accurate values for its properties, did not keep parishes from hiding money from the court, and did not account for all its own money – a great length to go to rip off victims, cut corners, and hide some deep, dark secrets.

Only when Judge Louise DeCarl Adler threatened to throw the diocese’s case out of bankruptcy court, and proceed with 42 of the abuse lawsuits, did the diocese settle – $198.1 million, anything to keep the cases from being heard; anything so the spotlight on Brom would shift.

But the scrutiny needs to continue. The sexual misconduct that the former seminarian alleged warrants more investigation. Because if, in fact, the allegations are true, more children were involved; more children know the truth; more children have been hurt by Brom.

Until there is concrete evidence, not rumor or allegations, the tangible evidence of Brom’s misdeeds includes 144 cases of rape, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse that the diocese settled last week. It’s the tangible evidence that the church will sacrifice its followers, will lie and cheat and hide, all to continue with its core mission.

On Brom’s watch, it’s all in a day’s work.