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After Abuse Settlement, an Apology to
Victims
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: July 16, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/us/16abuse.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
A day after agreeing to a record $660 million
settlement with 508 victims of sexual abuse by
members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony apologized to the
victims for “this terrible sin and crime” and said
he hoped the settlement would bring a “final
resolution.”
Four years of legal combat ended in a settlement
agreement late Saturday, just two days before the
scheduled start of a trial in which Cardinal Mahony
would have been required to testify.
The settlement is the largest in any Roman Catholic
diocese, amounting to about $1.3 million per victim.
The Catholic Church in the United States has so far
paid more than $2 billion in settlements and legal
judgments to victims of sexual abuse and their
families.
Lawyers for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs said
they were still negotiating details but expected to
present an agreement for approval to the judge in
the trial this morning.
Some parishioners in Los Angeles said that they were
eager to see the victims compensated, but that the
drawn-out legal battle had soured them on Cardinal
Mahony’s leadership.
“I don’t think they’re getting enough money,” said
Cheryl Ortega, 59, a parishioner at Our Mother of
Good Counsel Church in Los Feliz, Calif. “There’s no
amount that can compensate them.”
Steve Mills, 52, a parishioner at Our Mother of Good
Counsel for 25 years, said he was appalled that the
negotiations took so long and cost the archdiocese
so much money that could have been used to help the
poor or build schools.
“My opinion of the cardinal has gone down because of
all this,” Mr. Mills said. “And it seems with
everybody I talk to this is true.”
Cardinal Mahony said that $250 million of the
settlement would be paid by the archdiocese, $227
million by insurers and $60 million by religious
orders whose priests and brothers perpetrated some
of the abuse. He said the remainder, $123 million,
would come from “other sources,” including religious
orders “not yet participating” in the settlement.
In previous settlements, the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles had already promised $114 million, bringing
its total to about $774 million in settlements.
Cardinal Mahony said that to pay for the
settlements, the archdiocese would sell some
properties, liquidate some investments and borrow
money. He said he would not need to end any core
functions or to sell any parish properties or
schools.
The size of the settlement may reflect the
tremendous financial risk to the archdiocese had it
taken these cases to trial, said Carl W. Tobias, the
Williams professor at the University of Richmond
School of Law in Virginia.
“California judges and juries are more used to big
settlements, or big verdicts,” Mr. Tobias said.
“When the defendants are more concerned about their
exposure, there is more willingness to pay more in a
settlement.”
Abuse victims in Los Angeles said they were eager to
move on but had some misgivings because they thought
it likely Cardinal Mahony and other church leaders
they believed to be culpable would never be held
personally accountable.
Tony Almeida, a Los Angeles firefighter, said he had
been emotionally preparing himself to testify at the
trial that the Rev. Clinton Hagenbach, now dead,
repeatedly molested him and other altar boys and
once pinned him down and raped him. Mr. Almeida, 44,
said he attributed his alcoholism, aggression,
depression and two broken marriages, in part, to the
abuse and the years of suppressing the memories.
“My life is just a mess,” Mr. Almeida said. “With
therapy, I think I’m doing a little better. This
settlement is not going to fix everything, I
understand that,” he said, but added, “It is a
compensation for what I’ve gone through. But I still
feel the church needs to be held accountable for
what they’ve done to me, and my life.”
John Manly, a lawyer for 50 of the victims, said the
victims had been forced to use the civil courts to
expose sexual predators and call church officials to
account because the criminal justice system had
failed.
“I think the question people need to ask themselves
is how can Roger Mahony pay three-quarters of a
billion for criminal acts, and essentially walk
free?” Mr. Manly said. “Especially since it’s other
people’s money, and he has clearly been given
special treatment by law enforcement and the power
structure in L.A. When is there going to be some
accountability, and if not, why?”
Cardinal Mahony said at a news conference on Sunday:
“Yes, I’ve made mistakes. But I didn’t know” that
the treatment programs where he sent some predatory
priests, before returning them to ministry, were not
effective. He said he would have had no problem
testifying in court.
Cardinal Mahony said to the victims that he wished
he could restore their lives to where they were
before the abuse occurred. “Your life, I wish, were
like a VHS tape” that could be rewound, he said.
Michael Parrish contributed reporting. |
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