PORTLAND (AP) — It may take until October to find out what kind of files the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland keeps on priests accused of sexual abuse.

A federal bankruptcy judge said Thursday she is inclined to agree with an attorney for abuse victims, who argued against sending church documents to another judge to act as a “special master” to resolve a dispute over their public release.

But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris said she will give both sides until the end of August to argue the case. She scheduled a hearing Sept. 30 to decide whether to lift her protective order sealing the documents.

“This process is not going to take another year, I can assure you of that,” Perris warned, noting the case began in July 2004.

The archdiocese promised to release various documents and files last April when it announced a $50 million settlement to end the first bankruptcy ever declared by a Catholic diocese.

The mediator in the case, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, said at the time that he expected the documents to be released within a month or two.

But negotiations over the release fell apart, and an attorney for the victims, Kelly Clark, said the dispute was unlikely to be resolved.

The church has said it will follow the procedure set out in the settlement to have the other mediator in the case, retired Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure, try to reach an agreement. If the dispute still cannot be resolved, it will submit to binding arbitration by Hogan.

Complicating matters is a separate request by Erin Olson, another attorney for victims, to release about 2,000 pages of files on priests she has collected for her clients.

John Schuster, a former priest who is on the national board of directors for SNAP, said the release of the Portland archdiocese documents “is critical” and will set a precedent for other dioceses.

He said Portland Archbishop John Vlazny “should be made to live up to what he agreed to” last April and release the documents.

Thomas Dulcich, an attorney for the archdiocese, said the church is simply trying to follow the settlement agreement procedure.