Per Yahoo: US Catholic church paid 615 mln dlrs for abuse cases in 2007

[Dance04]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080307/ts_alt_afp/usreligioncrimepedophilia

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Roman Catholic church in the United States paid out 615 million dollars (400 million euros) last year for child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy, or 54 percent more than the previous year, an official report showed Friday.

Of the monies paid out by the church, 526 million dollars went to settling cases -- almost double the amount paid out in 2006, the annual report on how well the church is implementing a charter to protect youngsters said.

Around 23 million dollars was paid out for therapy for victims or support for accused offenders, and 60 million dollars for legal fees, said the report, which was commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The report showed that 689 new allegations of abuse were lodged last year -- three percent fewer than in 2006 -- but most involved cases dating back decades.

Most victims were male, and more than half were between the ages of 10 and 14 when the abuse began.

While the number of new allegations has declined from 2004 to 2007, costs related to allegations increased in the same period, the report said.

Between 2006 and 2007 alone, "expenditure related to allegations increased by 54 percent," due mainly to a near-doubling of the amount paid out for settlements in 2007, it said, showing that other pay-outs had fallen.

The annual report tracks progress made in implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children, which was adopted by the bishops in 2002 after the church was plunged into crisis when the Archbishop of Boston confessed that he had protected a priest he knew had sexually abused young members of his church.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the USCCB, said in a statement Friday that child protection was a priority for the bishops, and praised them for "working diligently to implement the Charter."

But Terry McKiernan, president of the organization Bishop Accountability, which documents the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic church, said the report by the bishops was opaque and fudged the number of clergymen who have been accused of sexually abusing children.

"Because the report is only counting and not actually naming the priests, we are not able to determine which of these allegations pertain to priests already accused and which pertain to new priests," McKiernan told AFP by phone from Boston.

"This is nowhere near a complete accounting from the bishops conference, but it's better than nothing," he said.

McKiernan estimated that more than 5,000 priests out of nearly 41,500 across the United States have been denounced for sexually abusing children since the 1950s.

"We know that the number is considerably over 5,000 now, and that, on the basis of annual adjustments since the John Jay report came out in 2004," McKiernan said.

A report commissioned in 2004 by the USCCB from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Washington found that nearly 4,400 priests had been accused of abuse.

This year's progress report was published just weeks before Pope Benedict XVI was due to visit the United States.

The visit next month will take him to New York and Washington, but not Boston.

"It's hard to not read the visit to New York, where there is a real hold-out among the American episcopate -- Archbishop Edward Egan, who has been very restrictive about information that might get out about this -- as a reward, and the skipping of Boston as expressing a desire not to confront the issue," said McKiernan.

"I don't hope for any gestures on the part of the pope," he added.

"Remedies are going to come through the legal system, not through the church."

---

I'm beginning to think being part of the clergy requires you to touch little boys on the regular.

the hypocrisy sickens me.

[SoCalSkins]

It's a religion of love. Man on boy love.

[33]

Out of $615m in payments, $526m was settlements. Wow. Half a billion dollars in settling cases.

Some people believe you never settle a case because more and more people are around the corner happy to find out if you'll settle again.

You probably have a decent chance of getting them to settle right now even if you've never stepped foot in a catholic church.

[PokerPacker]

pick your charities carefully, otherwise your just funding pedophiles...

[Kosher Ham]

Doing the work of God, my butt. Oh wait. Let's hope not.

[LVRedskinsFan]

Wow....just wow

[Thiebear]

Atheist/Agnostic alert:

o.k.: If Jesus got all upset at the temple and overturned all the tables in one of his only fits of rage ever documented. How do you then create a city of gold called the Vatican and make it 120000000x worse and think thats o.k.

How do you have 600 MILLION dollars just laying around while decrying poverty and people starving to the south of you? How do you not actually put some of that money in ferreting out the pedofiles that probably make up less than 10% of your crew?

It boggles the mind how you can have such a turbulant past and just as your coming into your age of looking better, you look the other way: AGAIN!

[TimmySmith]

Bear in mind that many if not most of these settlements were made for incidents that took place many years or even decades back by clergy who are retired or long dead. Which is a sign that the Church is indeed owning up to it's responsibility. If you are a part of the current church you know this, if you are not, then you are reacting to a degree of sensationalism.

[Thiebear]

If you are a part of the current church you know this, if you are not, then you are reacting to a degree of sensationalism.

So its an inside thing? All others are ignant?

[PeterMP]

So its an inside thing? All others are ignant?

No, it is actually stated in the article:

"The report showed that 689 new allegations of abuse were lodged last year -- three percent fewer than in 2006 -- but most involved cases dating back decades."

Most of the cases were claims against abuse from decades ago.

The willingness to settle vs. litigating things out in a delay/obfuscation tactic is a change in policy by the Church. It is good for the Church to admit that they messed, give at least most people the benefit of the doubt, and not put victimized people through the pain of a the process and a trial.

[jnhay]

I don't understand how the Church can just give away money like that.

[WVUforREDSKINS]

The Catholic Church also took out an insurance policy for sexual abuse. Talk about unbelievable:doh:

http://www.slate.com/id/2170482/

Over the weekend the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to settle lawsuits from hundreds of sex-abuse victims. About $250 million will come out of the diocese bank account; $60 million will come from other religious orders and another $123 million from litigation with orders that chose to sit out the deal. Insurance companies will pay the remaining $227 million. Hold on—can churches buy insurance for sex abuse?

Yes. Like any business, churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations purchase insurance to protect themselves from lawsuits, like discrimination claims or negligence charges against officers. Since the spike in sex-abuse lawsuits in the mid-1980s, churches have also had the option to take out extra liability policies for damages related to sexual misconduct. These policies don't come cheap, and they protect just the institutions, for the most part. Insurers will mount a legal defense for accused individuals, but the support extends only so far: Perpetrators are on their own if they're found guilty or choose to settle out of court.

But insurance companies created these abuse-specific policies only after the lawsuits of the mid-80s forced them to make large payouts. Until then, general liability policies didn't specifically rule out sex abuse, so churches that needed to pay damages argued that insurers should pay. Thus, even though sex-abuse insurance is available today, many of the big payouts actually come from the churches' general policies, since the abuse happened decades ago. (The Los Angeles settlement probably came out of these general policies.)

[GibbsFactor]

Damn, I gots to get in on this action. I wonder if I can fabricate something to get some money out of the papacy.

[zoony]

Atheist/Agnostic alert:

o.k.: If Jesus got all upset at the temple and overturned all the tables in one of his only fits of rage ever documented. How do you then create a city of gold called the Vatican and make it 120000000x worse and think thats o.k.

How do you have 600 MILLION dollars just laying around while decrying poverty and people starving to the south of you? How do you not actually put some of that money in ferreting out the pedofiles that probably make up less than 10% of your crew?

It boggles the mind how you can have such a turbulant past and just as your coming into your age of looking better, you look the other way: AGAIN!

First of all, I'm not defending everything the church does or has done, but a couple things for you to consider.

1. The works contained within the Vatican were created to glorify God. Which is ironically enough, what gives them their value. Also, consider Jesus's actual words from the Gospels when your exact point is made in his presence.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2012:1-8

2. What do you propose that the Church does? Have an auction at the Vatican, sell everything, give it to the poor? Then what? For all its past transgressions, the Catholic Church has and continues to be one of the largest and most impactful charitable organizations in the world. Go to any 3rd world country today, come back, and look me in the eye and tell me this isn't so.

Would you also ask that every scolarship fund that is set up to provide generation after generation of children an education be closed out, and that money given to education? Well that would be great in the short run, but in the long run it would be a disaster.

3. Unfortunately, because Priests are unable to marry, it will always attract that disgusting element who use the position as a cover to get away with sick things. But I think that is true in every religion, whether it be Judaism, Protestantism, and of course Muslims. Anyone have a figure as to what % of priests we're talking about?

.....

[The_cavalierman]

That is an awful lot of money....and embarrassment.

Maybe it would be cheaper if they allowed priest/nuns to have families again and live like normal people.

[zoony]

Maybe it would be cheaper if they allowed priest/nuns to have families again and live like normal people.

I agree with this.

[zoony]

I guess we should bump all the Catholic threads for the afternoon crew

[PeterMP]

That is an awful lot of money....and embarrassment.

Maybe it would be cheaper if they allowed priest/nuns to have families again and live like normal people.

You mean like the Baptist:

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2007_press_releases/041807_six_baptist_preachers.htm

or maybe the boy scouts:

http://www.chicagomedicalmalpracticelawyerblog.com/2007/11/suit_filed_against_boy_scouts.html

History has shown that pedophiles are drawn to anywhere they might have contact w/ children.

I don't think there is a good study that actually shows that pedophiles are even likely to unmarried if you look at the non-priest population.