Damage Payouts by U.S. Catholic Dioceses

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Langdell

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Since several recent threads have dealt with the Church’s wealth and the redistribution of wealth, I became curious about the total amount that U.S. Catholic dioceses have paid in damages to victims of child sexual abuse. Wikipedia has a helpful chart here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sexual_abuse_scandal_in_the_United_States

The Wikipedia chart is not quite up-to-date. It does not list the payout by the Diocese of Wilmington (Delaware), which I understand was about $80 million. If we add that to the figures listed in the chart, I get a total a little north of $1.3 billion. And of course that does not take into account the legal fees and other costs associated with dealing with the various claims and, in some cases, resulting bankruptcies.

However you look at it (i.e., the Church hasn’t paid enough, the Church has paid too much, the Church has been unfairly singled out, etc.), that’s a huge redistribution of wealth, from the Church and her usual beneficiaries, to victims, victims’ families, and lawyers.

I guess I don’t really have a point other than that, deserved or not, it’s been a big dent in the Church’s resources.
 
It should be a lesson to us all never to protect or aid and abet the evil doings of anyone–whether priests or governments or ordinary laymen. Unfortunately, it has, in large part, taken the “dent” you talked about to inspire change within our beloved Church! Too bad it wasn’t inspired by all the innocents who were harmed by predators within our midst. I am not without compassion to any kind of sin; but if the Church had not turned the other way, essentially allowing this to go on for so many years, we wouldn’t be experiencing the shame, pain, and financial woes we are undergoing now. I love our Church with all my heart, but evil is evil and we should never take part in it either by shuffling predators around or by turning a blind eye. If possible we should all look on this as correction from God, be the paragon of what we preach, and take our own medicine! We are to become holy even as our Father in heaven is holy (1 Peter 1:14-17 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy , because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear).
 
Lutgardis said:
It should be a lesson to us all never to protect or aid and abet the evil doings of anyone–whether priests or governments or ordinary laymen. Unfortunately, it has, in large part, taken the “dent” you talked about to inspire change within our beloved Church! Too bad it wasn’t inspired by all the innocents who were harmed by predators within our midst. I am not without compassion to any kind of sin; but if the Church had not turned the other way, essentially allowing this to go on for so many years, we wouldn’t be experiencing the shame, pain, and financial woes we are undergoing now. I love our Church with all my heart, but evil is evil and we should never take part in it either by shuffling predators around or by turning a blind eye. If possible we should all look on this as correction from God, be the paragon of what we preach, and take our own medicine! We are to become holy even as our Father in heaven is holy (1 Peter 1:14-17 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy , because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear).
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Lutgardis said:
It should be a lesson to us all never to protect or aid and abet the evil doings of anyone–whether priests or governments or ordinary laymen. Unfortunately, it has, in large part, taken the “dent” you talked about to inspire change within our beloved Church! Too bad it wasn’t inspired by all the innocents who were harmed by predators within our midst. I am not without compassion to any kind of sin; but if the Church had not turned the other way, essentially allowing this to go on for so many years, we wouldn’t be experiencing the shame, pain, and financial woes we are undergoing now. I love our Church with all my heart, but evil is evil and we should never take part in it either by shuffling predators around or by turning a blind eye. If possible we should all look on this as correction from God, be the paragon of what we preach, and take our own medicine! We are to become holy even as our Father in heaven is holy (1 Peter 1:14-17 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy , because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear).
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I really can’t disagree with anything you’ve written. The whole situation is very humbling.
 
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