PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Archdiocese of Portland has begun running ads in major U.S. newspapers alerting alleged victims of clergy sex abuse to an April 29 deadline to make claims in most cases.

The $250,000 worth of ads, required as part of the church’s bankruptcy proceedings, will run in 21 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, over the next three weeks.

Advocates for victims have said the court-ordered April 29 deadline is unreasonable.

“No one would tell a grieving widow to come forward within four months – and no one can tell a rape victim to come forward within four months,” said Barbara Blaine, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It’s an arbitrary deadline that only meets the needs of church leaders and doesn’t help victims.”

Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said the church is doing everything it can to reach potential claimants. A letter about the deadline has been mailed to more than 81,000 registered Oregon parishioners and roughly 11,000 alumni of the Roman Catholic archdiocese’s two high schools.

The bankruptcy court did create a mechanism to allow people most traumatized by abuse to file claims after April 29, said Albert Kennedy, the attorney representing a claimants’ committee in the bankruptcy proceedings.

The court, he said, appointed a representative for “unknown claimants” who have not yet fully acknowledged or remembered that they were abused and whose abuse is the source of current emotional problems.

Last July, the Portland Archdiocese became the first in the nation to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the face of mounting sexual abuse claims. It faces $534 million in pending claims from 72 individual plaintiffs.

The Tucson, Ariz., Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September, and has run a $75,000 ad campaign. The Spokane, Wash., diocese filed for bankruptcy last month.

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