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Kentucky diocese settles for $120M


Twentie Fow

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Twentie Fow

I don't understand why the diocese is responsible for this. It is the priest who commited the grave sin that should be in trouble on each individual case, not the whole diocese. Or did the diocese cover up the scandals and now it has to pay for doing this? It is so embarssing to see this kind of news on CNN.

[url="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/03/church.abuse.ap/index.html"]http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/03/church.abuse.ap/index.html[/url]

[quote]Kentucky diocese settles for $120M
Nation's largest settlement for child molestation cases



COVINGTON, Kentucky (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington agreed Friday to set up a $120 million fund to compensate hundreds of victims of child-molesting priests and other employees.

It would be the nation's biggest settlement in the scandal that has staggered the church.

The settlement, which is subject to approval by a Kentucky judge, would bring to a close a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of victims abused over a 50-year period. It accuses the diocese of a cover-up of sexual abuse by priests and others during that time.

"After personally meeting with more than 70 victims, I am painfully aware that no amount of money can compensate for the harm these victims suffered as innocent children," Covington Bishop Roger Foys said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, I pray that this settlement will bring some measure of peace and healing to victims and their loved ones."

Victims will be grouped into four categories based on the severity of abuse, and compensation will range from $5,000 to $450,000 per person before attorney fees are deducted.

A portion will be set aside to provide counseling, the statement said. Any money not used for claims or other expenses would be returned to the diocese, it said.

According to the statement, the class of victims "encompasses all persons, known and unknown, who were abused during the 50-year class period." Lawyers for plaintiffs and the diocese have said that number would be in the hundreds. It could be months before an exact number is known, however, the lawyers have said.

"The additional anxiety and stress that would have occurred to the victims had there been a trial has been eliminated," said Stan Chesley, the plaintiffs' chief attorney.

Real estate, investments and insurance
A spokesman for the diocese would not comment on how the diocese could afford the settlement -- or why the amount was so much larger than agreements reached in other abuse settlements. "Both parties have agreed not to comment on the details of the settlement at this time," said spokesman Tim Fitzgerald.

Last year, the Orange County, California Diocese agreed to a settlement that participants said would pay $100 million to 87 victims. In 2003 the Boston Archdiocese, where the scandal first erupted, settled with 552 victims for $85 million.

Covington -- a suburb of Cincinnati, which is across the Ohio River -- is far smaller than Boston, the nation's fourth-largest diocese with about 2.1 million parishioners. The Covington Diocese spans 14 counties and has 89,000 parishioners. The lawsuit also covers some Kentucky counties that were part of the Covington Diocese until 1988, when a new diocese in Lexington formed.

In a statement the diocese and plaintiffs' attorneys said $40 million of the settlement fund would come from a combination of church real estate and investments, and $80 million would come from insurance.

Sue Archibald, head of the clergy-abuse victims advocacy group The Linkup, called the settlement fair and commended the diocese for its efforts.

"It's difficult to put a dollar figure on damages that can't be valued, but the size of the settlement signifies how serious the abuse and its effects were," Archibald said. "I hope the settlement enables the survivors to move forward with their healing."

In addition to the dioceses that have reached major settlements, three -- in Tucson, Arizona; Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington -- have filed bankruptcy claims because of abuse allegations.

With the lawsuit pending, the Covington Diocese settled other claims, paying $4 million from its savings and $6.5 million from insurance over the last 18 months to resolve 56 sex abuse claims. It recently said it would move its offices to a medical center to cut costs and earlier announced some layoffs.

"I don't know that the money is ever a remedy for what was taken from us," said Kay Montgomery of Lexington, central Kentucky director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She settled separately with the Covington diocese and is not part of the new settlement.

"It doesn't bring back the lost innocence for the victims, and it certainly will not bring the innocent life back to them," she said.[/quote]

Edited by Twentie Fow
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journeyman

The diocese gets the blame for letting the practice go on for 50 years - for believing that fallen priests had been rehabilitated - for putting them back in the path of temptation - since the priest is an "employee" of the diocese (in terms of source of salary, withholding for taxes, paying into social security), the employer pays the price for inadequate supervision . . . one time, and it's the priests fault; over and over and over for 50 years, the boss has some culpability . . . and because of the Church's hierarchical structure, it looks like diocese (or the bishop) is in charge . . .

which ignores the fact that we generally paid for the diocesan assets, especially the local parishes

and so the victims are, in essence, suing themselves and their neighbors, through the figurehead of the bishop/diocese . . . "We have met the enemy, and they are us"

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phatcatholic

please, forgive me if this is an insensitive statement, but if the money does not make up for what has happened, why ask for the money......and especially for that much money?

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journeyman

[quote name='phatcatholic' date='Jun 8 2005, 08:03 PM']please, forgive me if this is an insensitive statement, but if the money does not make up for what has happened, why ask for the money......and especially for that much money?
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because money is all the court can award (and all that will pay the lawyers fees - that is a basic problem with the entire personal injury field of law) . . . the court can't put the victim back where they were before the offense . . . and you can't throw an institution in jail . . . so money is all that is left, . . . the size of the award has something to do with the disgust the jurors felt toward the defendant(s) and something to do with the number of victims ("hundreds" said the article, so it works out to a little less than $1 million each) . . . In most "class action" suits, the plaintiffs don't get a lot of money (the article says the high award would be around $450,000) but I suspect the lawyers will see a fee of around $40 million (1/3 of the award is the typical fee in a personal injury practice)

You're in Kentucky, aren't you? How close is this to you?

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phatcatholic

well, geographically speaking, the diocese of covington is about two hours away (i'm in the archdiocese of louisville). emotionally speaking, i have a close relative who was abused by a priest, so i have seen first-hand the harm it can cause.

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I was born in Louisville . . . lo, these many years ago . . . never lived there, though, my mother's family was from there, and I was due at the same time my dad had orders transferring him frm Boston to Honolulu . . . which was not yet a member of these United States . . . so Mom went home to mother, and I'm still eligible to run for president . . .

how is your relative handling all these stories? from your question, I'm guessing he doesn't want to sue (or hasn't yet?) (or did, and it didn't help?) for money damages that won't replace what he's lost . . . perhaps there is some other remedy that would bring some closure (I hate that term) or peace

A catholic version of Emily's list (or whatever the name is, the sex offender listing most states have now) would be a very powerful remedy, especially if it tracked the offending priests not just through their career, but also into retirement (with priest shortages, retired priests can still stay busy)

welcome back, hope you had a good vacation, and thanks for pinning the temporary reference thread

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Obviously, the scandals in the church are horrible, and the victims deserve to be compensated...

There is good though--the corruptness within the church is being plucked out. The bad priests, bishops, etc are being exposed and dealt with. Like Pope Benedict says, a smaller more orthodox church is not a bad thing. Actually, a smaller, more faithful church is a lot more powerful than a large, overpopulated church filled with lukewarm Catholics and bad clergy.

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phatcatholic

[quote name='journeyman' date='Jun 12 2005, 11:00 PM']how is your relative handling all these stories?  from your question, I'm guessing he doesn't want to sue (or hasn't yet?) (or did, and it didn't help?)  for money damages that won't replace what he's lost . . . perhaps there is some other remedy that would bring some closure (I hate that term) or peace[right][snapback]610149[/snapback][/right]
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he doesn't want any money or public media attention. he knows that it is unfair for the Church to suffer in that way b/c of the acts of a few, which is amazingly insightful, i think. he is upset that the bishop has not been more helpful in giving him an opportunity to help in a more structured and organized way those who have gone thru this as well. but, his big beef is w/ his parents, who abandoned him when the abuse happened and would not acknowledge it.........and with God, who seems quite the mysterious figure for letting something like this happen.

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