L.A. Archdiocese to Pay $600M to Victims

[dts]

breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QCHPVO0&show_article=1

L.A. Archdiocese to Pay $600M to Victims

Jul 14 02:57 PM US/Eastern
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer

. . .

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs—an average of $1.2 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.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the payout would be split between the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed out over the weekend.

Tod Tamberg, an archdiocese spokesman, did not immediately return a call for comment.

The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

Among the largest total payouts was $100 million in 2004 by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., to settle 90 claims. The Diocese of Covington, Ky., last year agreed to pay $84 million for 552 cases. Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses—Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego—sought bankruptcy protection.

Last month, the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to pay about $52 million to 175 victims, while setting aside another $20 million for anyone who comes forward in the future.

The Diocese of Spokane, Wash., also recently emerged from bankruptcy protection after agreeing to pay $48 million to settle about 150 claims.

 

[magician]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

On the one hand I have very negative opinions about this entire sexual abuse crisis. It never should have happened. When abuse was discovered, the priests involved should have been removed immediately.

Unfortunately it has happened and there are many victims. They deserve prayers, counseling, and compensation. As far as the compensation goes, I’m not sure how much they actually receive. The lawyers are the major beneficiaries. I hope these cases allow the victims to achieve closure, but I have doubts that money alone will solve their problems.

Mostly I hope that the settlement of these cases will allow this episode to come to an end and everyone to heal and move forward. Los Angeles has probably the largest group of cases still pending.

 

[Bruno_esqueXXII]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

Actually they will be selling off a lot of the properties accumulated over the years.

As to the rest of your comments – no comment.

 

[Franze]

I hope the files about professors working for the goverment, enterprises or other professions, the victims receive such money. And not only the Church.

 

[JW10631]

In the news article, there was a blurb about a 2002 law that, for one year, removed the statute of limitations for these abuse cases.

Being the largest archdiocese in the US, it would not be difficult to see how the Los Angeles Archdiocese could accumulate capital, in the forms of buildings (schools, churches, even the odd office building), and let’s not forget that the Archdiocese has probably owned these properties for a long time. Likely they were purchased when Southern California real estate costs a lot less than now.

As I have decided not to attack, or at least say what I think about certain bishops such as Cardinal Mahony, I believe the entire thing could have been handled better. Cardinal Mahony took up the standard of the “peace and justice” crowd after the death of Cardinal Bernardin. Social justice is important - it is part of Catholic social teaching, but it isn’t the only part of Catholic teaching.

After this sorry episode, Cardinal Mahony’s influence, both in the secular world and in the USCCB, is bound to decline. This is a personal observation, but if I lived in that Archdiocese, I would be attending an Eastern Catholic Church every week.

 

[Teelynn]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

Well, I will comment. Don’t really know where the money is coming from. As to the illegal immigration…these people*** as of yet***, are just getting started in this country and really don’t have tons of funds to contribute to the Church. If the illegal immigrants were to be the only ones to contribute financially, the Church in this country wouldn’t exist. When you only throw a dollar or two in the collection basket on Sunday, as happens in this area, it just doesn’t pay the electric bill. So that theory doesn’t hold much water.

 

[Lurch104]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

Wow, what an offensive post. I really do hope you were tired or something else was going on when you sent this in. I looked at some of your other post and while I may not have agreed with your point, it was at least well reasoned (generally).

One can be upset with the church over some points, but stating that as a whole we are a corrupt organization is over the line.

 

[lizaanne]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

Why are you here?

~Liza

 

[tjm8]

This probably isn’t relevant to the discussion, but has anyone ever seen an actual estimate of the Church’s actual net worth? Years ago, I read that the Church was the largest land owner in the City of New York. I’ve also heard about the vast art holdings and other historic treasures of the Vatican. Is there any published data to support or discredit any of this?

 

[davy39]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

First of all, I resent the remark that anybody that contributes to the Church is a sucker. Yes, the priest abuse scandel is awful, and it embarreses me as much as anyone else. But to say that the whole church is corrupt, is to disregard all the good the church has done down through the centuries. If you want to bash the church with every post, there are plenty of forums avaliable elsewhere to do so. Try one.

 

[MrIrish]

One has to wonder how the Church has accumulated that much capital that it can afford the insurance premiums plus the additional liquidation of assets.
It’s no wonder they’re advocating illegal immigration - where else is the Church going to get suckers to contribute to a corrupt organization.

yawn You anti-Catholics are all the same. Time to get some new material, I think.

 

[magician]

I was waiting for the outrage! But what the responses show is very clear - that most of you give the Church a pass or prefer to rationalize the endemic disease away.
Corrupt - yes. Because without the sacrifices of these victims and hard work of the legal teams, none of this would have been forthcoming.

 

[davy39]

I was waiting for the outrage! But what the responses show is very clear - that most of you give the Church a pass or prefer to rationalize the endemic disease away.
Corrupt - yes. Because without the sacrifices of these victims and hard work of the legal teams, none of this would have been forthcoming.

we are not trying to rationalize anything, or trying to give the church a pass. The Church, while being guided by the Holy Spirit, is full of imperfect human beings, myself included. Terrible things were done to SOME of these people, while others, in my opinion, (to which I am entitled) jumped on the bandwagon for the big bucks, their lawyers included. Their lawyers are the big winners overall. How are priests going to defend themselves when they have been dead for 20 or 30 years? I believe that in a lot of these cases, the church and their legal council have given up too easily, and just handed out the money. Your problem is that you will see every priest as an abuser, while the overwhelming majority are good and holy men. End of rant.

 

[KathleenElsie]

The L.A. Archdiocese is not paying this. The men and women that have given their dimes and dollars are paying for this. No “thing” pays a settlement it is human being that pays.

 

[gam197]

originally posted by Franze
I hope the files about professors working for the goverment, enterprises or other professions, the victims receive such money

.

I like this idea. Maybe if every teacher, nurse. day care worker etc., man or women that has bothered a child had to pay a sum of money for their counseling, even lose their home to the victim, maybe there would be less tolerance of it. I have never seen in the newspaper where a teachers has had to pay say $250,000.00. I don’t see the outrage. How about the female teacher that went after a 12 year. She was on TV years later with him and her children and it was like a love affair. Why are there two standards?

Maybe then we could also have some discussion about pornography and censorship.

 

[Suat]

I like this idea. Maybe if every teacher, nurse. day care worker etc., man or women that has bothered a child had to pay a sum of money for their counseling, even lose their home to the victim, maybe there would be less tolerance of it. I have never seen in the newspaper where a teachers has had to pay say $250,000.00. I don’t see the outrage. How about the female teacher that went after a 12 year. She was on TV years later with him and her children and it was like a love affair. Why are there two standards?

Maybe then we could also have some discussion about pornography and censorship.

If a teacher goes after a 12 year old, then he/she should be fired and subsequently jailed and fined for statutory rape. Many are, admittedly more males than females though. Does the same not apply to priests? Or, shall school districts just start protecting the pedophilic teachers by giving them ‘counseling’ before moving them around the country in different positions? If this were to happen in the secular world then the police would be all over it and most of the people involved would lose their livelihoods and head to jail. In my opinion, the double standard is heading the wrong way. The church decided to protect the priests over their victims and now the recourse the victims have is civil, not criminal. There would be a lot less outcry if the church had been honest from the start and the priests involved had gone to jail just like any other pedophile.

That is the absurdity of the situation, the Catholic Church knew that some of these men had problems and they swept it under the rug. Even now the church continues to try to minimize the situation. There is very little outrage among the faithful. Very strange for in institution that teaches that it is the true church.

 

[DWPC]

.

I like this idea. Maybe if every teacher, nurse. day care worker etc., man or women that has bothered a child had to pay a sum of money for their counseling, even lose their home to the victim, maybe there would be less tolerance of it. I have never seen in the newspaper where a teachers has had to pay say $250,000.00. I don’t see the outrage. How about the female teacher that went after a 12 year. She was on TV years later with him and her children and it was like a love affair. Why are there two standards?

Maybe then we could also have some discussion about pornography and censorship.

So two wrongs do make a right? That is terrible rationalization. Equating a day care worker or PS teacher to an an ordained priest devalues our priests’ special vocation. The guilty priests didn’t “bother” children, they raped them. Thats R-A-P-E! And in perversions not to be described here.

The real scandal in our Church is not individual perverts, but their institutionalized, long time protection and enabling by *our *Catholic hierarchy and religious orders. One of the reason that the LA settlement is so high is to protect Mahony from being called to the witness stand. Evil men have dragged the American Church into the sewer and they should not be allowed to hide behind their robes or a perversion of the meaning of the Holy Spirit.

 

[OriginalJS]

We know from personal experience that the Church is not a corrupt organization. On the contrary, throughout its history in the Western world, it has been the advocate for the poor and for the ameiloriation of brutal governments. In short, it has been a cvilizing and moderating influence.

The Church has always seemed to have had some corrupt people in the clergy and hierarchy. In recent history (the past 200 years or so) the corrupt persons did not inflict enough damage to seriously undermine the Church’s credibility. However, I fear that the sex abuse scandal has gone too far and has caused a sea change in the way the general public, at least in the United States views the Church. I fear that its credibility has been seriously and irrevocably damaged, at least for the next ten years or so.

 

[dan]

*Vivian Viscarra, 50, who attends Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels three times a month, said the victims deserve the payout even though it could hurt the church’s ability to deliver important services. The amount would average a little more than $1.3 million per plaintiff, although individual payouts will vary according to the severity and duration of the abuse. *

“I am disappointed,” Viscarra said. “And it’s making me reevaluate my views of whether people in the ministry should be married. People do have needs.”

A couple reactions…

1. Apparently this whole sex abuse crisis could have been solved if we had only let priests get married! Gee, we really dropped the ball, didn’t we?!
2. To my fellow unmarried, hetrosexual male counterparts: We better hurry up and get married, otherwise we’re child molestors waiting to happen!

Seriously, though, whenever those in the “let priests can married” crowd use the sex abuse crisis as a reason to push their agenda, I cringe. Not only is it an offense to all celibates (telling them that their state in life predisposes them to be predators) but it also shows a gross ignorance of the nature of sexual abuse. Just ask any victim of family sexual abuse whether the fact that the abuser was married did anything to stop what happened to them.

Sometimes I wish we could stop lay Catholics from saying stupid things to the media.