LA Church to Pay $600M for Clergy Abuse

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday.

Attorneys for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs are expected to announce the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public.


In this file photo, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, protest outside Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, seat of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in September 2006. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday, July 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs - an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said.

The settlements would push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070714/D8QCM13G3.html

[msongs]

1. its NOT the "LA church" it's the CATHOLIC church INC nt

[defendandprotect]

24. Correction: It's the PATRIARCHAL Vatican/Catholic Church

[truckerb1968]

2. Who Insures the Archdiocese? The flock?

That's a whole lot of coin to be paying out, shouldn't the sheep be speaking out?

[yorkiemommie1]

3. I know some Catholics who will donate to a particular

cause, say, to a religious order of nuns, but not to the church as a whole.

I also know one of the victims who was given the runaround by the Diocese for years and years.

[arewenotdemo]

8. You'd think, but what would the sheeple say..."Baaaaaad priests!"?

The Church has them on their knees, just the way it wants them.

[dflprincess]

4. Anyone who hasn't seen it should rent "Deliver Us From Evil"

it deals with one abusive priest in the LA Archdiocease and the official response to him and his victims. One of his victims recounts on how the the church spokesman told her that they didn't worry too much about early reports about the priest because they thought all his victims were girls and that would just be "normal curiosity", they would have taken it more seriously if they'd known he was abusing boys as well.

[IndyOp]

12. A second recommendation for "Deliver Us From Evil" -

My jaw hit the floor over and over again during that documentary. From the flat out, no holds-barred descriptions of what the victims experienced to the inclusion of the history of the priest that is the focus of the film, who had been sodomized by his older brother and by an adult priest when he was a child. I've never seen an interview with a pedophile that was as honest about his "triggers." Also outrageously powerful: The impact of the abuse on the entire family - emotionally and spiritually. I lost it when one father explained why his daughter did not come to her parents to tell what the priest had done: He had told his daughters that if anyone ever hurt them, he would kill that person. After the priest raped her, the little girl asked her classmate what would happen if her daddy killed someone and the classmate said that she would never see her daddy again because he would go to jail forever. The little girl didn't want to lose her daddy, so she didn't tell on the priest.

An amazing, amazing film. Incredibly courageous subjects.

[Joe Bacon]

33. And here's a third recommendation

"Deliver Us From Evil" shows just how sick and corrupted the Catholic Church has become. But, don't worry, I am sure that there are plenty of other cults that do the same thing!

[Occulus]

5. This church needs to be taxed into nonexistence.

The roman catholic church, I mean.

ALL of them.

Here's to hoping some doors close- permanently- as a result of this settlement.

[IChing]

6. POLICE MUST NOTIFY RESIDENTS WHEN CATHOLIC CHURCH MOVES INTO NEIGHBORHOOD

Trenton, N.J. — Under a new law designed to protect minors, local police departments will now be required to inform residents any time a known Roman Catholic church moves into their neighborhood.


New Jersey State Senate debating Egan's Law
The law also mandates that Catholic churches register with authorities, wear electronic monitoring devices, and be prohibited from moving to within a half-mile radius of a school.

A follow-up to Megan's Law, enacted by New Jersey in 1994, the so-called "Egan's Law" is named for Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who are both accused of covering up sexual abuse by priests under their authority. Like Megan's Law, Egan's Law is expected to spread quickly to other states, but for parents in towns across New Jersey, it's on the books none too soon.

"Last year, we discovered that a Catholic Church had been in our neighborhood for 30 years! And nobody told us!" said Ruth Harper of Redbrook, N.J. "My sons used to walk by that church every day on their way to school. Even now I shudder to think of what might have happened."

"I always told my kids to steer clear of that place," added neighbor Scott Carlyle. "But that's because there were a lot of strange people going in and out at odd hours, even at midnight on Saturdays. I was worried it was some kind of druggie hangout.

"To think the whole time it was a Roman Catholic Church. Now I know why they had all those stained glass windows —. so nobody could look in."

---------------------------------------

edit: copyright.

Please post only 6 paragraphs from the copyrighted
source per DU rules and provice a link to the source.

[silverojo]

13. Is this from The Onion?

Or did you write it yourself? Funny stuff. :)

[rock_it man]

30. Can life immitate art?

If only this was true!

[LuckyLib]

7. What's the grand total now? All diocese? All cases across the country?

Has any organization added this up in monetary terms (the cost in human terms is incalculable)?

[assclown_bush]

9. So far the tally stands at 2 BILLION $$$$$

That is how much money has been paid out, or will be paid out. Sadly, by reaching these agreements, the victims are not allowed to speak out in a court of law and drag the culprits into the light of day. I think it is disgusting that the church has coddled child molesters for years. Anyone who donates money to the catholic church is enabling child molesters to get away with their crimes.

[Bridget Burke]

16. At a million dollars each....

The alleged victims will just have to deal. Any of them could turn down the money & file charges.

(And all the news stories are using the word "alleged.")

[AngryOldDem]

18. What if the statute of limitations has run out?

California is unique in that it suspended its statute of limitations. In other states, survivors have only a limited window of opportunity to file charges. When you finally come to terms with abuse years after it happened, your only recourse is to fight civilly. My diocese put a one-time-only offer on the table wherein victims would get a set amount of money and then promise to go away. If you didn't jump on that wonderful opportunity, you effectively released the archdiocese from any liability. That's bullshit. It's akin to the criminal setting his own terms of punishment.

The statute of limitations should never run out when it involves sex crimes. I know people who it took years before they were able to even talk about what happened to them, let alone go through the justice system. In my state a bill was put before the General Assembly that would have reasonably extended the SOL -- it was passed by the Senate but then was gutted and killed by the House.

[Bridget Burke]

20. Well, this settlement happened in California.

Where, as you pointed out, there is no longer a statute of limitations in civil cases.

[AngryOldDem]

22. Exactly

Not every state has relaxed their statute of limitations, which has been a very convenient loophole for the Church up until recently. And in those states where the statute has become an issue, the Church (as well as other denominations) has fought it tooth and nail. That's part of what killed it here in Ohio. The galling part in this is that with these settlements, the Church stipulates that it will be released from further legal liability. Again, that's just bullshit, in my very humble opinion. But after years of wrestling with the hierarchy, a lot of victims do just take the money and go. Money and power win out every single time.

[defendandprotect]

23. Is that grand total -- do we know what they paid out secretly over the years????

[defendandprotect]

25. Native American have saying about Catholic Church . . .

"When they came, they had the book and we had the land.
When they left, we had the book and they had the land."

[JerseygirlCT]

28. And how many men have actually been sent to prison for their

crimes?

That's the part that really burns me. Due to statutes of limitations, and goodness knows what else, it sure seems very few of the guilty will actually see any time.

At the very least, their names should be made public.

What a horrible, horrible disgrace!

[assclown_bush]

10. kick and recommed n/t

[sutz12]

11. Better be careful...wouldn't want the Pope to have to hock his Mahli slippers.

:evilgrin:

[superconnected]

14. Where are they going to get that kind of money..?

Does it come from the main Catholic church?

[Kolesar]

15. Showed the vatican what gold's for

Hooray for Peter Pumpkinhead!

[AngryOldDem]

17. It comes from the collection coffers, where else do you think?

That's why a lot of Catholics are refusing to put their money in the plate. Trouble is, that screws over local parishes but that is really minor collateral damage in the broader scheme of things.

Insurance also covers some, but a lot of dioceses are having trouble getting that.

[Xithras]

27. Selling LA real estate.

No, it doesn't come from the Roman Catholic Church. It comes from the local archdiocese, and by proxy the pockets of the Catholics in the LA area (mostly hispanics at this point).

The church owns a lot of land in the LA area though. A lot of older churches have low attendance and will probably be consolidated, with the closed churches being sold off. Since land in LA is very expensive, it won't take all that much for them to make this money up.

You can bet they'll be leaning hard on their parishioners to drop money in those collection plates too. Por Dio, dar la iglesia!

[BigDDem]

19. $2 billion and counting

paid out by the "one true church"

[ima_sinnic]

21. good--let them hock some of that gold and real estate they've plundered

over the centuries.

[Xithras]

26. Won't hurt the Vatican. Money will come from the local archdiocese.

I see lots of people hoping that the Vatican will go broke from this, but those people obviously don't understand how the church is structured. Money goes UP, not down. The local archdiocese or diocese sends money to the Vatican as tithes, and keeps the rest locally. In the US, there are 30 something archdiocese, and dozens more diocese, each with fairly independent finances.

This will hurt the LA archdiocese and Catholics in the LA area, but that's about it. With it's huge, predominantly Catholic hispanic population, I really doubt the church is going anywhere though.

And, of course, this won't cost the Vatican a penny.

[JVS]

34. It does cut into the vatican's income. That's $600M that won't go up the network

[olddad56]

29. A need exists for a 12 step program for recovering catholics.

[ProudDad]

32. I subscribe to the one step program

"Don't join or attend no matter what..."

and I sure as hell ain't "powerless over the church"...


Don't need 12 steps, just don't have anything to do with them...

[davidthegnome]

31. So...

They lose a few smaller churches, the twisted perverts get away with it again, and the victims settle for cash.

I come from a long line of Catholics, mostly on my Father's side of the family that came here from Ireland. I think I'm probably the first one in many, many, many generations to break with the catholic church. I won't have anything to do with it anymore.

It's kind of sad to break with such a long tradition, but I'm an agnostic now. I've been to hell, and back, and back and back again. I'm not convinced of anything one way or another... and I won't give my support, or my money, to an institution I do not trust or respect.

Doesn't mean I don't like Catholics. In general, I do, it's the bureaucrats, certain aspects of the priesthood, and a number of the doctrines that I can't tolerate.

As for this current issue.. every one of those priests guilty of child molestation should be serving life in prison (provided there is no doubt of guilt). I don't care why they did it, justifying their actions with "it was done to them" is, frankly, an inexcusable insult to all those who experienced the same suffering and did NOT inflict it upon others.

This stuff just makes me sick.


Dave