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Archdiocese Of Los Angeles Pays Out $1.5 Billion In Record Settlement Of Sexual Abuse Committed By More Than 300 Priests!

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The Roman Catholic Church has been involved in sex trafficking and sexual abuse almost from its inception.  We have witnessed entire communities terrorized by priests who lack self-control and have adhered to a false doctrine of celibacy (1 Timothy 4:3).  Then, when it becomes a big enough problem, the RCC won’t admit guilt but rather pays the victims off and then moves the priest to another parish where he can, once again, attack, molest and rape innocent children.

Well, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has just agreed to a record payout for the crimes of more than 300 priests in a $1.5 Billion settlement.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

  • The Archdiocese of Los Angeles had previously paid $740 million to victims in various settlements, bringing the total payout to over $1.5 billion.
  • Archdiocesan officials have said the church has made great strides to prevent abuse.
  • More than 300 priests who worked in the archdiocese in Los Angeles have been accused in public records of sexually abusing minors.

In what could be the closing chapter in a landmark legal battle, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades in the largest settlement involving the Catholic Church.

Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the archdiocese. The agreement caps a quarter-century of litigation against the most populous archdiocese in the United States.

The settlement leaves only a few lawsuits pending against the church in Los Angeles, attorneys for the victims say.

The archdiocese had previously paid $740 million to victims in various settlements and had pledged to better protect its church members, so this settlement would put the total payout at more than $1.5 billion.

“These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse. Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get this resolved,” said attorney Morgan Stewart, who led the settlement negotiations.

Attorney Mike Reck of Jeff Anderson & Associates said, “This is a measure of justice. There can never be full justice. These brave survivors brought it to protect kids in the future.”

Archbishop José H. Gomez approved the settlement, which will be funded by archdiocese investments, accumulated reserves, bank financing, and other assets. According to the archdiocese, certain religious orders and others named in the litigation will also cover some of the cost of the settlement.

“I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” Gomez said in an announcement to parishioners. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

He said it provides “just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses while also allowing the Archdiocese to continue to carry out our ministries.”

The archdiocese enforces strict background and reporting requirements, Gomez said, and it has established extensive training programs for staff and volunteers to protect young people. “Today, as a result of these reforms, new cases of sexual misconduct by priests and clergy involving minors are rare in the Archdiocese,” he said. “No one who has been found to have harmed a minor is serving in ministry at this time. And I promise: We will remain vigilant.”

Still, victims have continued to come forward with decades-old claims.

For more than two decades the church has been roiled by allegations that onetime leaders mishandled abuse cases, sometimes moving clergy known to have sexually abused minors to other parishes rather than removing them from the priesthood and informing law enforcement.

In legal documents, diocesan and police records over the last few decades, more than 300 priests who worked in the archdiocese in Los Angeles have been accused of sexually abusing minors.

Gomez succeeded longtime Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose handling of the scandal drew fierce criticism and undercut his moral authority as one of America’s most prominent Roman Catholic leaders. In 2013, documents were released that showed Mahony and a top advisor plotted to conceal child molestation by priests from law enforcement.

“Cardinal Mahony is the center of a lot of these allegations,” Stewart said. “His years of covering up allow more children to suffer.”

As part of the new settlement, Stewart said, the archdiocese will disclose more of the files it kept that documented abuse by priests.

Read the rest…

Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media



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