US Church borrowed at least $400 million from Irish bank to pay American abuse victims

[_Abyssinia]

The Catholic Church in the U.S. borrowed more than $400 million from Allied Irish Banks to compensate American victims of clerical sex abuse.

The huge compensation sum was paid from loans to the Church from the now state-owned Irish bank in 2007.

A new book entitled “Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church” outlines the full extent of the dealings between the Church and Allied Irish Banks.

The $400 million borrowed was used to compensate clerical abuse victims in America and led to AIB becoming known as the Vatican’s banking arm in U.S. legal circles.

The money was raised by way of loans, guarantees and lines and was specifically used to pay-off clerical abuse victims according to the book’s author Jason Berry.

irishcentral.com/news/US-Church-borrowed-at-least-400-million-from-Irish-bank-to-pay-American-abuse-victims-128145603.html

 

[Corki]

“The money was raised by way of loans, guarantees and lines and was specifically used **to pay-off clerical abuse victims **according to the book’s author Jason Berry.”

This is very misleading. The money was used as part of settlements with abuse victims, settlements initiated by the attorneys for the victims.

They make it sound like a bad thing to have given victims financial settlements. But that is what they asked for. What would have been the alternative - to tell the victims “sorry, just go away.” ? The fact that a diocese which didn’t have sufficient cash initiated a loan **in order to compensate a victim **is a good thing, isn’t it?

 

[irishpatrick]

I am confused–and I am no lawyer so that is easy–but how could courts allow settlements in amounts that is beyond what the Church? I thought lawsuits ceased cash and assets of the entity being sued? How could it also stretch into the pockets of future Catholics?

 

[Corki]

I am confused–and I am no lawyer so that is easy–but how could courts allow settlements in amounts that is beyond what the Church? I thought lawsuits ceased cash and assets of the entity being sued? How could it also stretch into the pockets of future Catholics?

Lawsuit settlements can include what the person is able to borrow. As an individual, I could be required to pay based on the equity of my home, for example. I could sell the house to pay or I could borrow using the equity as security for the loan. I suspect the Church did the same thing.

But this article doesn’t seem to refer to court ordered payments but rather payments the dioceses made to victims as compensation. The vast majority of the claims against the various US dioceses never went to court.

 

[Tigg]

Will we ever recover from this scandal?

 

[irishpatrick]

Lawsuit settlements can include what the person is able to borrow. As an individual, I could be required to pay based on the equity of my home, for example. I could sell the house to pay or I could borrow using the equity as security for the loan. I suspect the Church did the same thing.

But this article doesn’t seem to refer to court ordered payments but rather payments the dioceses made to victims as compensation. The vast majority of the claims against the various US dioceses never went to court.

It seems that they borrowed against future gifts given to the diocese.

 

[Corki]

It seems that they borrowed against future gifts given to the diocese.

Which would also be considered an asset. For example, if a benefactor had a life insurance policy with the diocese as the benefactor, that’s an asset. Or are you saying that they borrowed against future parish donations? There is such a thing as a cash-flow loan where a company borrows against a future predicted cash flow. It wouldn’t work well in our diocese since the only parish donations that go to the diocese are for the services fund.

 

[estesbob]

Will we ever recover from this scandal?

Depends what you mean by recover. I was able to go to mass today and receive our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. . I and able to regularly receive all the sacraments as is every other Catholic and my community. Mmy spiritual life is not changed a bit since the homosexual priest scandal rocked the church. . So I guess my question , again, is recover in what way?

 

[Tigg]

Depends what you mean by recover. I was able to go to mass today and receive our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. . I and able to regularly receive all the sacraments as is every other Catholic and my community. Mmy spiritual life is not changed a bit since the homosexual priest scandal rocked the church. . So I guess my question , again, is recover in what way?

As did I go to 8 am Mass this morning. Of course the Lord will always be with us and His indefectible Church. But just think of the magnitude of this for a moment…the financial devastation alone is huge and only God Himself can truly know the worldwide negative spiritual and psychological effects in terms of loss of faith and loss of innocence, and the betrayal of trust. This scandal did not affect my faith life in the slightest either, but I personally know of some it did, including a former neighbor, weak in faith, whose cousin was molested which resulted in both of them leaving the church in anger.

An Irish priest was quoted several months ago as saying that the reputation of the Catholic Church is in tatters. I can certainly understand how he could say that. We know and still believe the Church IS the moral voice in the world, but to many now, that appears as mere hypocrisy.

And I dwell on the spiritual makeup of our priests by virtue of their ministerial priesthood. I think of holy hands consecrating the Eucharist and the suffering the presbyterate has gone thru by a “blanket” blackening of their reputation. I think of the suffering the Holy Father continues to go through and of the hatred for priests and the still frequent suspicions, unfounded though they may be.

Of course this was not a death blow, but reparation must be made and purification endured. May the Lord have mercy on us all.