PORTLAND (AP) – Maine’s Roman Catholic diocese, like others across the nation, has set up a foundation to encourage and protect contributions to the church amid a priest abuse scandal that has bankrupted some dioceses.

Any money raised through the Catholic Foundation of Maine would be off-limits to sex abuse victims or anyone else who filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Portland or any of its parishes.

A 1997 Maine court ruling that has proven to be a significant barrier to priest-abuse lawsuits in the state is being challenged in a case that threatens to open the diocese to greater financial liability.

Oral arguments on the appeal of that decision are scheduled to be heard Tuesday before the Supreme Judicial Court in Portland.

Bishop Joseph Gerry began developing the Maine foundation in late 2002 and it was incorporated in May 2003. Bishop Richard Malone took over the effort when he replaced Gerry in April.

The foundation, overseen by a 21-member board of directors, has no endowments at this time, but seven parishes across the state are developing pilot projects to be funded through the foundation.

Among them is a plan by Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish in Saco to add classroom space, a teachers’ lounge and possibly a gymnasium to its 53-year-old school building. A potential donor has offered to make a significant lead contribution.

“We need to reach out to people,” said Sister Linda Mae Plourde, Notre Dame’s principal. “The foundation gives us a broader spectrum of people and businesses we could address. We lack the manpower to do that on our own.”

Plourde said the foundation also makes the prospect of giving more attractive to people who might be concerned that their money could be used for other purposes, such as financial settlements to sexual abuse victims.

Other organizations developing endowments through the foundation include St. Louis Parish in Fort Kent, the Christian Life Center in Frenchville, St. John Parish in Bangor, St. Joseph Parish in Gardiner, St Peter and Sacred Heart School in Auburn and St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Brunswick.

The new foundation would protect fund-raising efforts from any liability, whether the diocese or one of its parishes owes a contractor or is sued for damages, said Frederick Naffziger.

“It’s a smart legal and financial strategy,” Naffziger said. “They want to assure contributors that the money will be reserved for the specific purposes announced by the Catholic foundation. Creditors of the diocese or parish cannot reach those funds. They can protect their assets going forward.”

Frank Semancik, the foundation’s executive director, said Malone has no plan to transfer any diocesan assets to the foundation. He said dioceses across the country have avoided transferring funds to Catholic foundations to guard against even the appearance of wrongdoing.

Paul Kendrick of Cumberland, an advocate for priest-abuse victims and a member of the Catholic reform organization Voice of the Faithful, was skeptical about the mission of the new foundation.

Kendrick suggested that the diocese worries too much about preserving its real estate and not enough about its ministry to poor, disenfranchised and spiritually hungry members of the Catholic community.

“To fund new doors and windows through a foundation seems kind of odd . . . A designated fund whose purpose is to carry on the mission of the gospel is a good thing. An effort to move things around to shield church finances and divert them away from victims of priest abuse would be wrong,” he said.