St. Paul archdiocese to pay $210M to clergy abuse victims
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - The
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced a $210 million
settlement Thursday with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of
its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making this the second-largest
payout in the scandal that rocked the nation's Roman Catholic Church.
Victims' attorney Jeff Anderson said the money, a
total of $210,290,724, will go into a pot to pay survivors, with the
amount for each survivor to be determined. Anderson said a formal
reorganization plan will now be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for
approval, and then it will be sent to the victims for a vote. Anderson
expected they will readily approve it.
"We changed the playing field," said Jim Keenan,
who was sexually abused as a child in the 1980s by a Twin Cities-area
priest. "They have to listen to victims now, and that is huge." Marie
Mielke, who was sexually abused from 1997 to 2000 by a St. Paul
seminarian who later became a priest, urged fellow survivors to have the
courage to stand up.
"Power and healing is just as true as the evil that's out there," she said.
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(PHOTOS 1-19)
Clergy abuse survivor Marie Mielke talks about her feelings during a
press conference detailing the settlement reached between clergy sexual
abuse victims and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, at his
office on Thursday, May 31, 2018, in St. Paul, Minn. (John Autey/Pioneer
Press via AP)
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