Samuel instructs Cardinal McElroy to render unto God what is God’s, and unto Caesar what is Caesar’s — specifically, Caesar Vazquez, second from left, who was abused by a Catholic priest in the mid-’80s while serving as an altar boy at St. Molestus’s Church in Rancho Bernardo. “Don’t make me remind you about being handed over to the torturers until you have paid the last penny,” noted Samuel, citing Jesus in Matthew 5:26.

Last week, the Diocese of San Diego announced its intention to seek bankruptcy protection for a second time as it grapples with the prospect of huge payouts to the victims of sexual abuse who filed over 400 new claims following the passage of a state law extending the statute of limitations. San Diego bishop Robert Cardinal McElroy explained that the move was necessary in order for the Church to fulfill its twofold obligation to render justice to the victims while at the same time continuing its evangelical and pastoral mission to the region’s Catholics. But that move was dealt a blow yesterday when the Old Testament prophet and judge Samuel appeared at the Diocesan Headquarters and ruled authoritatively against the tactic. “Unless the Lord build a house, in vain do the builders labor,” he warned McElroy. “If the Lord wishes to prosper the work of your hands, then He will surely do so. Put not your trust in princes, but in the Lord. Consider the lilies of the field. They neither toil to block access to funds nor spin off their properties to individual parishes in an effort to protect them from liquidation. And yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Do not store up treasure on earth. Rather, become rich in the things of god, where no corruption may enter in. Remember: the love of money is the root of all evil. Well, that and the love of sexually abusing minors.”

Artist’s depiction of the San Diego diocese’s decision to attempt a second round of bankruptcy.