US clerical abuse victims in €480m settlement

VICTIMS of clerical sex abuse in the United States have claimed that a€478 million settlement by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will not make the pain end for victims.

The landmark $660m deal expected to be formallyannounced today is to pay out more than $1.3m (€940,000) to each of about 500 victims. The settlement has been reached ahead of a case that was to go before judges in California today, in which 12 plaintiffs claiming they were abused by a priest of the archdiocesebefore he died in the late 1980s.

After Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in LA yesterday, Mary Grant, a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said: “This is not over. Church officials would like to think that this settlement means everything is OK... but this is not a magic wand.”

The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony, who yesterday apologised today to the hundreds of people who will get a share of the settlement.

“There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. The one thing I wish I could give the victims, I cannot,” he said.

“Once again, I apologise to anyone who has beenoffended, who has been abused. It should not have happened, and it will not happen again,” he said.

He said in the past 14 months he has met with dozens of people alleging clergy abuse, which helped him to understand the importance of a quick resolution to the lawsuits.

He and all those involved in the scheduled case are expected to appear before a Los Angeles Superior Court today to enter the settlement into the record.

Archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan was reported to have said last night that he was glad an agreement had been reached.

“But it’s a disappointment too that we didn’t get it done much earlier than this,” said Mr Hennigan.

The deal is also believed to call for the release of confidential priest personnel files after a review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the lead plaintiff’s attorney Ray Boucher said. He said the documents could show whether archdiocesan leaders were involved in covering up for abusive priests.

The settlements would push the total amount paid out by the Catholic Church in the US since 1950 to more than €1.5 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It was not immediately clear how the payout would be funded among insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

Mr Boucher confirmed that the sides were working on a deal but would not discuss specifics.

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

The largest payout up to now has been by the Diocese of Orange, California, in 2004, for €75m.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — have sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than €83m to settle 86 claims so far.