Big pay day for abuse victims
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the US announced a $US210 million ($278 million) settlement yesterday with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganisation.
THE Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the US announced a $US210 million ($278 million) settlement yesterday with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganisation.
It is the second-largest payout in the scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church. Victims’ lawyer Jeff Anderson said the money would go into a pot to pay survivors, with the amount for each survivor to be determined. Mr Anderson said a formal reorganisation plan would now be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for approval, and then sent to the victims for a vote. He expected they would readily approve it.
“We changed the playing field,” said Jim Keenan, who was sexually abused as a child in the 1980s by a Twin Citiesarea 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. “So get up and grab it.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he was grateful to victims who came forward.
“I recognise that the abuse stole so much from you, your childhood, your innocence, your safety, your ability to trust and, in many cases, your faith,” he said.
The largest total payout of any kind came in 2007, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled clergy sex abuse cases with 508 victims for $US660 million.