Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to Pay $660 Million to Victims
July 15th, 2007Via: Breitbart / AP:
Hundreds of people who claim they were abused by clergy affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles can expect to be paid more than $1 million each in a $660 million settlement of their lawsuits. The deal, by far the largest settlement in the church’s sexual abuse scandal, was reached Saturday, said Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiff’s attorney.
The archdiocese, America’s largest, and the plaintiffs were set to release a statement Sunday morning and hold a news conference Monday, he said.
An anonymous source with knowledge of the deal placed its value at $660 million, by far the largest payout in the church’s sexual abuse scandal. The source spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been officially announced.
Thats a drop in the bucket for an organization with innumerable assets. But watch as they seek to play the victim card and get the “faithful” to dig deep again. Thats pretty sad.
A large church is not very different from a government or large corporation, in that matters are decided by a few and actualized by an obedient many. The few are authoritative, and are often flawed in some serious way, while the many are typically unthinking, or generally disallowed from putting their own -sometimes better- understandings into effect. All the wrong individuals seek position and protection in such organizations, all the wrong persons are given responsibility for making sure they do the right thing, and all the wrong attitudes and methods are employed in achieving those objectives. Eventually, such entities will fade away. Until then, we have the responsibility, as individuals, of fending for ourselves, as well as we can.
All the money in the world is not enough compensation for such a violation of trust. We must all work to make victims know that what was done to them was unaccepable in any circumstance. As a society, we all need to be part of the healing process for these children, many of whom are now adults and continue to bear the pain and emotional scars of this horrid sexual violation.
Going price for a child’s innocence: about one million USD. Quite the bargain. Does God get a discount?
Maybe it’s time they thought about revoking the whole Vow of Celibacy thing. Seems to be causing more trouble than it’s worth.
Former Says:
July 16th, 2007 at 11:52 am
“Going price for a child’s innocence: about one million USD. Quite the bargain.”
I don’t see them turning it down.