$24 million award to victims of Catholic priests

11 of the victims were abused in Fresno Diocese region

California victims of sexual abuse have been awarded $24 million by an independent committee, it was announced on Thursday.

Eleven of the victims who were awarded a total of $1,025,000, were abused in the Fresno Diocese region.

The Independent Oversight Committee who awarded the settlements including former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former California Governor Gray Davis and business leader Maria Contrerassweet.

The Independent Compensation Program for Victims of Sexual Abuse by Diocesan Priests in California was launched in 2019.

“It was particularly important that we offered a program that provided victims (and) survivors of sexual abuse with a viable non-adversarial and confidential alternative to a long and protracted litigation process,” Panetta said in the news release.

A total of 197 people who were abused by a priest when they were minors were paid in the program. The committee stated there were 580 claims settled. There were 929 newly registered people who signed up at the program’s website, the committee stated.

“I am pleased the ICP was committed to a process that treated all victims (and) survivors, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, with dignity and compassion,” Contrerassweet said in the news release. “It was particularly important that the ICP process offered victims (and) survivors some sense of justice and validation for the inexcusable trauma they endured.”

The independent committee heard from the survivors and decided who was eligible and what money they should be paid based on numerous factors, the committee stated.