US Church agrees to pay abuse victims

A Catholic diocese in the US has agreed to pay at least $48m (€37m) to people molested by priests, a federal mediator announced.

Federal bankruptcy Judge Gregg Zive in Reno, Nevada, said yesterday the settlement by Spokane dioceses in Washington would provide survivors “with some measure of closure and allow them to move forward and continue the healing process”.

The proposed reorganisation plan was filed in federal bankruptcy court in Spokane. It still must be approved by victims and another bankruptcy judge.

Church spokesman Eric Meisfjord said the diocese would have no immediate comment.

The settlement would be financed by six insurance companies, money from the sale of the bishop’s office building and other assets and contributions from Catholic entities, Zive said.

The settlement does not include specific numbers of victims or individual amounts to be paid, but establishes a process for distributing the money, as well as a means for paying victims who have not yet filed claims, Zive said.

About 150 individual claims were filed against the diocese as part of the bankruptcy, although not all of those people chose to sue.

In addition to helping abuse victims, Zive said, the settlement would allow the diocese “to continue its ministry and to begin its own journey of renewal, healing and hope”.

The diocese serves about 90,000 Catholics in eastern Washington.

It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, citing claims by abuse victims of about $81.3m (€62m) against assets of about $11m (€8.4m).

The settlement requires Spokane Bishop William Skylstad to publicly support eliminating statutes of limitations on child sex crimes and to personally visit each parish where children were abused to urge parishioners to come forward with reports of abuse, according to court documents.

Skylstad must also send letters of apology to victims or their immediate families; publish the names of all known abusers; allow victims to publicly address the parishes where they were sexually abused; and to publish their stories in the diocesan newspaper.

Mike Ross, an officer of the Spokane chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national organisation of clergy abuse victims, said victims were ”not thrilled with this deal”. Many of them “will never see their day in court and that’s truly what they wanted”, Ross said.

Skylstad is president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was among clergy accused of sexual abuse in the bankruptcy claims, but has denied allegations that he had sexual relations with a woman in the 1960s.