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Archdiocese to settle 500 cases
A $660 million deal was reported two days before trial in Los Angeles
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AP file photo If the civil cases go to trial, a judge says Cardinal Roger Mahony will have to testify.
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay more than half a billion dollars to settle 500 remaining priest sexual abuse cases, including dozens linked to Ventura County, according to news reports late Saturday.
Citing the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, The Associated Press reported the parties had reached a settlement. The news broke two days before the first in a long line of lawsuits is scheduled for jury selection and trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The wire service reported a joint statement will be released today and a news conference held Monday. A judge still must sign off on the agreement.
The deal is for about $660 million, according to a confidential source for the AP. The sum is the largest payout by the church since the sex abuse scandals first surfaced in 2002.
The wire service reported victims could receive $1.2 million to $1.3 million each from the archdiocese and its insurers. The release of priests' personnel files is also a condition of the settlement.
Some Catholic orders — the Servites, Clarites, and Oblates — refused to participate in the settlement, according to AP.
There were no details on how the settlement would financially affect an archdiocese that includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Archdiocese Spokesman Tod Tamberg said Saturday afternoon he couldn't comment.
"I can't even draw you a picture," he said.
Ray Boucher, lead counsel for plaintiffs, didn't return phone calls Saturday. Earlier in a day filled with conflicting reports, he was quoted by a Los Angeles television station as saying there was no settlement yet and that the $600 million-plus figure was "way off."
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said a settlement would likely involve all or nearly all of the pending lawsuits against the archdiocese. That could include cases involving about 10 priests who served or worked in the county and dozens of victims who say they were abused at area parishes.
Don Steier, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents many of the accused priests, was unavailable for comment on Saturday.
Ann Sargent, who claims she was molested at 15 by the Rev. Roderic M. Guerrini when he served at Santa Clara Church in Oxnard, said a settlement would bring some peace for the first time in three decades.
"But I'll believe it when it happens," said Sargent, 45, who now lives in Washington. "Up until now, the clock has been held still and for a lot of us, for myself, time has stood still. I think finally with the settlement if it really happens, the clock will begin ticking again."
Some victims have been waiting for resolution to their lawsuits for five years. They worry about waking up Monday morning to discover the settlement has somehow been blocked.
Even if it happens, the pain they and their families feel won't suddenly disappear, said Manny Vega, one of more than 20 former altar boys at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Oxnard who say they were molested as children by the Rev. Fidencio Silva.
AP file photo The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — whose members are shown protesting in 2006 — said a settlement would likely involve nearly all of the pending lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
"The only true feeling or emotion there is anger," said Vega, a 41-year-old Oxnard police officer who wants the church and Cardinal Roger Mahony to be held accountable. "People are going to say, Hey, just shut up and be happy they paid you off.' The reality is that they dodged a bullet."
A judge has ruled that if the civil cases hit trial, Mahony will have to testify in one. Many of the victims believe the court dates placed more pressure on the church to settle.
"Some (victims) desperately wanted Mahony on the witness stand," said Clohessy, noting victims are all over the map in terms of their reaction to a possible settlement. "Others say I need drug rehab. I need in-patient depression treatment. I need alcohol counseling. I've been unemployed for six years.'"
The archdiocese is the nation's largest with about 4.3 million Catholics. The archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have already paid more than $114 million to settle 86 clergy abuse claims.
More than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese remained unresolved. Many of those were filed after the state Legislature passed a law in 2002 lifting the statute of limitations on reporting sexual abuse for one year.
Lee Bashforth, who was raised in the Conejo Valley, filed his case five years ago against the Rev. Michael Wempe, who served at several parishes in the county. Now a 37-year-old financial planner in Orange County, Bashforth said he thinks until a settlement is officially announced, nothing is guaranteed.
"Who really knows," he said. "Until the judge says the fat lady has sung, we don't have a settlement."
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted by JohnGC on July 15, 2007 at 8:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Who went to prison for pedophilia? molestation? rape? How does any thinking person contribute $$$ on a weekly basis? Will phony Mahony ever be prosecuted for his cover-ups?
Posted by Ventura22 on July 15, 2007 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Disgusting! Their settlement admits their guilt and confirms what we knew all along; the Catholic Church(and probably some ohters) is a haven for pedophiles, and it was condoned over the years by cover-ups, transfers, excuses, silencing the victims...
There needs to be criminal prosecutions in the stronger cases and some church officials need to go to jail, as they are overall responsible for the actions of their subordinates, and KNEW for years what was going on.
Posted by GuideDog on July 15, 2007 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No real "mea maxima culpa" from the Archbishop here in this ultimate example of a double standard of criminal justice in this country: those who were aiding and abetting the commission of these crimes should have been charged with a criminal conspiracy.
Additionally, Catholics know that an bishop is supposed to follow the example of the Good Shepherd and protect the flock; instead he and his predecessor spent their efforts protecting the predators that destroyed the lives and souls of innocents. It is an example of both monumental religious hypocrisy and a sacrilege of the highest order.
There is another irony of the first order here: By their actions to hide this scandal, the privileged few who run the Church have done more to damage it and turn away the faithful than any of the vicious sexual predators they protected could ever have done had they been exposed and prosecuted when they committed these felonies.
Posted by Oxnardlady on July 15, 2007 at 8:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In any abuse case, both victim and predator suffer. One by the hands of the abuser and the other by his/her own distorted view on life. It is hard for those abused to forgive, love and trust again. But in order to heal, one must move forward and remember the past but not let it consume their future. This settlement is part of the healing process, may those who were abused be console in this act of reparation and let themselves find peace in God's mercy. As for the officer who was abused by an Oxnard priest, he's seems he would be unhappy with any act of amendment, I wonder what is it he would want to make him feel better? How many times does he want someone to say I am sorry before he can move forward?
Posted by GuideDog on July 15, 2007 at 10:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We are talking about serious criminal activity here!
Those crimes - for which the criminals should have been tried and been punished - are:
1.) sexual abuse (including rape) of children
under the guise of authority by clergy;
2.) obstruction of justice by their bishops; and
3.) a pattern of returning sexual predators to
positions of authority where they would again
victimize other children.
The purposeful cover up of these crimes (over decades in some cases) meant many of the perpetrators never paid any price for the felonies they committed - in fact, lived their lives in relative comfort and respectability. Meanwhile, each of their many child victims spent all these years trapped in a personal hell of degradation and despair.
Forgiveness of the perpetrators is a bit hard to provide when some of them have continued in positions of authority until now. They obstruct justice by strident denial of their own responsibility in the crimes and cover ups, shielding the files with the facts of events from the authorities and delaying the admission of crimes and negotiation of a settlement for years until the statute of limitations had passed even as many of the culprits and some of the victims had died.
This limited, but long overdue settlement on the part of the Archdiocese was the result of losses in legal battles and public opinion more than guilt and desire for forgiveness by those who committed the crimes.
Unfortunately, it will not change the stain of these terrible crimes against the 96% of the clergy who violate their sacred religious obligations. They are victims also.
Posted by GuideDog on July 15, 2007 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Correction due to mistyping in last paragraph:
Unfortunately, it will not change the stain of these terrible crimes against the 96% of the clergy who DID NOT violate their sacred religious obligations. They are victims also.
Posted by Oxnardlady on July 16, 2007 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with your view and want to add on to your last statement. You are right, more people suffer than those involved in those cases. But forgiveness needs to start somewhere, otherwise healing cannot take place. Yes your statistics may be correct, but what about the healing processes. Do you have statistics on that? What about forgiveness? Do you have statistics on that? One act of forgivenss can benefit all, not just those involved in those cases.
Posted by GuideDog on July 16, 2007 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If you child was attacked and raped on the street by a known habitual predator that the authorities had permitted to continue to do this, a cash settlement and an apology would not be enough to protect society from such behavior - whether or not God or you and your child wanted to forgive this person.
Forgiveness would be especially difficult if the only reason they were apologizing and asking forgiveness was that the law was about to drag them into court. Admissions of guilt that are vague and aimed at dissuading further prosecution are all the more obvious when the guilty fight to prevent you the justice system and society that it serves from viewing the full information that would make proper justice possible. Where is the demonstration of true contrition in such crocodile tears?
Finally, the full community in the Archdiocese - not just God, the victims and their families - would need to know how the guilty managed to cover this up so that they can prevent a repetition. Certainly part of protection for all of us is the need to see the removal of those criminals from positions of authority where they might do similar things when they thought they could get away with it.
Posted by Oxnardlady on July 16, 2007 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And that would make everyone feel better?
Posted by GuideDog on July 16, 2007 at 2:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is not about feeling better, it is about our children being safer. There are at least four things appear to be needed for starters:
1.) Start with the removal of those who leaders who fostered these felonies to grow within the community by covering it up and reassigning clergy that they knew were guilty to assignments were they could continue to commit these crimes. This was a crime against the children foremost, but against the entire Church itself. The Church in Los Angeles - all Catholics including innocent clergy - have been disgraced by this and had to pick up the price tag for all this.
2.) If it can be proved that any of these leaders conspired to obstruct justice, they should be tried for felony criminal conspiracy. If found guilty, they should be punished.
3.) Find out what procedures that police agencies use to investigate charges like this where a child is the only witness. Do police simply accept the word of the clergyman and drop it for lack of other witnesses? It appears to be the case. Perhaps, the young and defenseless need an independent ombudsman to pursue investigations for them with the police agencies.
4.) It should be made clear to Church leaders that the courts do have the jurisdiction to solicit and obtain records, documents and personnel files of an organization when a crime or cover up is alleged. These are crimes and involve more than a personal "sin" to be forgiven in the confessional. They are vicious criminal felonies against all of society.
I cannot see any logical objections to the above.
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