HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is calling bankruptcy protection a path forward to preserve its future. The diocese filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics. It says it paid more than 100 people a total of just over $12 million to compensate for claims of sexual abuse they suffered as children from its clerics, deacons and seminarians. The diocese joins at least 20 others across the U.S. in seeking protection from creditors. It is the first diocese in Pennsylvania to take such a step.