The judge in the Portland Catholic archdiocese bankruptcy ruled today that the victims of child sex abuse by priests can recover their damages from all of the assets in the archbishop's name, including those affiliated with area parishes.

The archdiocese's argument -- that church law trumps civil law in such matters, and therefore the assets all belong to the individual parishes -- has never impressed me at all. When I first heard it, I gave it about a 20 percent chance of prevailing, and it hasn't. The same outcome was recently reached in a similar case in Spokane.

It's gratifying to see that, eventually, the claimants in these cases are likely going to have their day in open court. And if they prove their claims, they'll likely be fully compensated; if they don't, they'll get nothing. It's called the rule of law -- a wonderful thing.

What now? The church can either drop its unorthodox legal theories and get the matter behind it relatively quickly, or it can drag the proceedings out through multiple layers of appeal. I think the smarter move would be to give it up, and face the music. We'll soon see if the archbishop agrees.