NYT,pg1: California Diocese Settles Abuse Cases; Record Sum Is Seen

[DeepModem Mom]

California Diocese Settles Abuse Cases; Record Sum Is Seen
By JOHN M. BRODER

Published: December 4, 2004


LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County has reached a record settlement with 87 victims of abuse by priests and lay employees, agreeing to the largest payment ever made by the church in cases involving sexual misconduct, parties involved in the talks said.

The payment is at least $100 million, exceeding the $85 million agreed to by the Archdiocese of Boston last year, said a participant in the discussions who could not be named because of a judicial order against speaking to the news media.

Other terms of the settlement, reached late Thursday night in a Los Angeles courtroom, were not disclosed, although lawyers for the plaintiffs said thousands of pages of documents chronicling decades of abuse by members of the clergy and others would be released in the coming months.

In a statement, Bishop Tod D. Brown, who participated in the marathon negotiations at the Los Angeles civil courthouse, said the settlement was "both fair and compassionate" and would not force the church to close any of its schools and parish churches. He said he would send a penitential letter to each victim....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/national/04settle.html

[saigon68]

1. I hope some of these PERVERTS go to PRISON