Scepticism over apology

The Sydney Morning Herald

July 17, 2007

LOS ANGELES: Cardinal Roger Mahony says he decided to settle the lawsuits with hundreds of abuse victims of predatory priests after talking with victims individually over the past year and realising how deeply they had been hurt.

In his first public statement since the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese's record $US660 million ($760 million) settlement was reached with 508 claimants, Cardinal Mahony said he told the victims: "Your life, I wish [it] were like a VHS tape … we could put the tape in … and delete these years of difficulty and misery."

But lawyers and advocates for the victims said that they were sceptical of his contrition, noting that the pact announced on Saturday, after 4½ years of negotiations, came just before the first case was set to go to trial, with the cardinal due to testify. And they said they feared they would never learn the full truth about the accused and those who might have shielded them, including Cardinal Mahony.

"He avoided the No. 1 thing he fears, which is disclosing under oath how much he knew and how little he did about predatory priests," said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

The settlement ends all pending abuse litigation against the archdiocese.

The New York Times

17 July 2007

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

As abuse victims sobbed in the courtroom, a judge approved a $660 million settlement yesterday between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and 508 people who had filed suit over sexual abuse by clergy members.

“Settling the cases was the right thing to do,” said Judge Haley J. Fromholz of Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The settlement in the nation’s largest Roman Catholic diocese is considered a landmark because the legal battle endured for more than four years, and because the sum is more than six times larger than any previous deal struck by a diocese.

At a news conference outside the courthouse yesterday, sexual abuse victims stepped to the microphone one by one, many carrying photographs of themselves as children, and shared their feelings of betrayal by the church and in particular, the archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, a fixture in Los Angeles since 1985.

“I don’t want Mahony going around saying everything is all right, because it’s not,” said Rita Milla, 45, a medical assistant who lives in Carson. “My church acted like it didn’t know what was happening.”

Carlos Perez-Carillo, 41, a supervisor in the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services, said, “We walked around spiritless.”

Mr. Perez-Carillo added, “We were told we lied,” and said, “We walked in darkness for many, many years.”

Some plaintiffs say they were raped, some molested, others shown pornography. Each plaintiff will receive a sum to be set based on the duration and nature of the violations, minus their legal fees, of 30 percent to 40 percent.

“It’s important to know,” Mr. Perez-Carillo said, “that survivors here will be able to go out and get the therapy they need.”

The negotiations ended late Saturday, two days before the first of 20 cases against the archdiocese, involving 172 accusers, was scheduled to go to trial, said Raymond P. Boucher, the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer.

If not for the lawsuits and the civil proceedings, he said, the names of about 150 of those accused of abuse would never have become public.

In the courtroom, Mr. Boucher, his voice choking, asked for a moment of silence for victims who had died during the years of negotiations. He said in an interview later that he knew of nine who had committed suicide in the last five years, and several others who had died of drug overdoses.

In comments that are proving controversial, Mr. Boucher has praised Cardinal Mahony for bringing the settlement to fruition after meeting personally with 60 abuse victims.

“He gave them a chance to yell and scream and vent and question,” Mr. Boucher explained in an interview. “There were intensely emotional, personal meetings, and I believe it changed the perspective of some of the clients that met with him, and I’m certain that it changed him.”

In the last six months, he said, the cardinal himself pressed for a conclusion. “When I stopped by the defense counsel’s office,” Mr. Boucher said, “the cardinal would be down the hallway on the phone with the religious orders trying to get them to participate” in the settlement.

But in interviews, other plaintiffs’ lawyers blamed Cardinal Mahony for dragging out negotiations by trying to foist responsibility on the insurance companies. They said that the insurers, meanwhile, blamed the archdiocese for its negligence and many of them refused for years to accept liability.

“This settlement could have taken place four years ago, and did not,” said Venus Soltan, a lawyer who handled 50 of the cases. “This case has always been about the victims and the church. It is not about insurance coverage.”

Ms. Soltan said of the cardinal, “If he wanted to settle these cases he had it within his ability to do that.”

Cardinal Mahony said Sunday that the archdiocese would pay $250 million toward the settlement, insurers would pay $227 million, religious orders would pay $60 million and the remainder, $123 million, would come from other sources, like religious orders not yet included in the settlement. The plaintiffs are to receive their payments by Dec. 1.

The archdiocese, its insurers and several religious orders, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits, have already paid a total of $114 million in several separate agreements to settle 86 claims.

The cardinal, who sat silently through the hearing, apologized Sunday to the victims, saying of the abuse, “It should not have happened and should not ever happen again.”

After the hearing, many victims said the apology came far too late. Esther Miller, 48, who said she had been suicidal and was not working because of post-traumatic stress, said: “I was a committed Catholic. I lost my church.”

Michael Parrish contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

Some plaintiffs still not accepting apology from Mahony

CBS 2 news

July 16, 2007 15:29 EDT 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Some of the plaintiffs who stand to see money from a 660 million-dollar settlement from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles aren't ready to accept an apology from the head of the archdiocese.

One man who held up a photo of himself as a young boy with the priest he says abused him says yesterday's apology from Cardinal Roger Mahony didn't ring true. He also said the settlement only saved the church from having to face questions before a jury.

Another said he hoped that the massive payout would keep him and others from being referred to as "an 'alleged' victim."

Mahony apologized yesterday to anyone who had been abused, saying it "should not have happened and should not ever happen again."

A judge today approved the settlement -- by far the biggest one from the church abuse cases.

ZEENEWS.com

Los Angeles, July 16:

Los Angeles, July 16: Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, apologized Sunday to the hundreds of people who will get a share of a USD 660 million settlement over allegations of clergy sex abuse.

"There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. ... The one thing I wish I could give the victims, I cannot," he said.

"Once again, I apologize to anyone who has been offended, who has been abused. ... It should not have happened and should not ever happen again."

Mahony said that he has met in the past 14 months with dozens of people alleging clergy abuse and that those meetings helped him understand the importance of a quick resolution to what he called a "terrible sin and crime."

The settlement will not affect the archdiocese's core ministry, Mahony said, but the church will have to sell buildings, use some of its invested funds and borrow money. The archdiocese will not sell any parish property, he said.

"We gather today because this long journey has now come to an end, and a new chapter of that journey is beginning," Mahony told reporters.

The deal between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse reached late Saturday is by far the largest payout since the nationwide clergy abuse scandal emerged in 2002 in Boston.

The settlement also calls for the release of priests' confidential personnel files after review by a judge. According to Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, the settlement had not required Mahony to make his public apology.

Earlier Sunday, Mahony presided over Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles without directly addressing the settlement. The service did include a prayer for victims of clergy abuse.

Mahony and all parties are expected before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Monday to enter the settlement into the court record, attorneys said.

"I think for those of us who have been involved in this for more than five years, it's a huge relief," said Michael Hennigan, archdiocese attorney. "But it's a disappointment, too, that we didn't get it done much earlier than this."

Parishioners reacted with disappointment and relief to the settlement.

Vivian Viscarra, 50, who attends Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels three times a month, said the victims deserve the payout even though it could hurt the church's ability to deliver important services. The amount would average a little more than $1.3 million per plaintiff, although individual payouts will vary according to the severity and duration of the abuse.

"I am disappointed," Viscarra said. "And it's making me re-evaluate my views of whether people in the ministry should be married. People do have needs."

Chris Parra, who attends Mass every Sunday, said she couldn't help thinking about the settlement when she shook Mahony's hand on the way out of the cathedral.

"Even when I was standing there, shaking his hand, I was thinking about how he's finally going to release the priests' personnel records and I wondered to myself why didn't he do that sooner," she said, holding her baby, Tomas.

Parra said she was upset that her tithing would go toward paying the settlement.

"I still want my children to follow the church's guidelines and foundation because that's how I was raised," she said. "But there's still a lot of healing to be done."

The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren't covered by sexual abuse insurance.

Under the latest deal, the archdiocese will pay USD 250 million, insurance carriers will pay a combined USD 227 million and several religious orders will chip in USD 60 million. The remaining USD 123 million will come from litigation with religious orders that chose not to participate in the deal, with the archdiocese guaranteeing resolution of those 80 to 100 cases within five years, Hennigan said. The archdiocese is released from liability in those claims, Tamberg said.

Plaintiffs' attorneys can expect to receive as much as 40 percent of the settlement money — or $264 million — for their work.

Standing outside the cathedral, Mary Grant, spokeswoman for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the settlement did not end suffering for the thousands of victims of clergy abuse.

"This is not over," she said. "Church officials would like to think that this settlement means everything is OK. ... But this is not a magic wand."

The settlements push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.

Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

Bureau Report

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The nation’s largest Catholic archdiocese will settle its clergy sex abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church’s sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday.

Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the plaintiffs will release a statement Sunday morning and hold a news conference Monday, said Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiff’s attorney.

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 amount exceeded earlier reports from sources that the settlement would be between $600 million and $650 million — $1.2 million and $1.3 million per plaintiff.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been officially announced.

Some Roman Catholic orders — the Servites, Clairites and Oblates — will be carved out of the agreement because they refused to participate, the source said. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, Boucher said.

The settlements push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

The release of the priest documents was important to the agreement, Boucher said, because it could reveal whether archdiocesan leaders were involved in covering up for abusive priests.

“Transparency is a critical part of this and of all resolutions,” he said.

Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the archdiocese, did not immediately return a call seeking comment late Saturday. Previously, he said the church would be in court on Monday.

Plaintiff Steven Sanchez, who was expected to testify in the first trial, said he was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. He sued the archdiocese claiming abuse by the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach, who died in 1987.

“I was really emotionally ready to take on the archdiocese in court in less than 48 hours, but I’m glad all victims are going to be compensated,” he said. “I hope all victims will find some type of healing in this process.”

The settlement is the largest ever by a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far. The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60 million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987 — periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance.

Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages — something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.