Friday, June 1, 2018

Catholics to pay $210M to sex abuse victims

Associated Press, June 1, 2018; Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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. More

 

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