It looks as though something is about to happen in the Oregon Catholic priest child sex abuse cases. The judges who have been beating the parties on their heads to get them to settle the pending cases are planning to attend a press conference on Monday at which a momentous announcement is expected.

We've been following this case closely, finding the church's deadbeat tactics uniformly despicable. To hide behind bankruptcy was a waste of more than 10 million dollars that should have been spent on healing. The last three years have been all about avoiding responsibility and concealing the truth -- which is what most of the plaintiffs were complaining about in the first place. To make all the parishioners in the archdiocese "class action defendants" was a particularly sleazy bit of farce.

It would be great if the victims could be satisfied, and the latest chapter in this very sordid tale closed. The church will have to borrow a bunch of money against its ample real estate assets, and it will take years to pay it all off. That's as it should be. Let us pray that it's so.

UPDATE, 12/11, 11:32 a.m.: It is official.