BishopAccountability.org
	Miami Archdiocese Paid $5.2 Million in 2004 to End Abuse Claims Print Associated Press, carried in New Mexican [Miami FL] February 1, 2005 MIAMI (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami says it paid $5.2 million last year to settle sexual abuse claims against its priests _ more than double its payments during the previous 37 years. Archbishop John Favalora says the archdiocese has settled 31 of 35 sexual abuse lawsuits filed against it. All were filed after the church's sexual abuse scandal erupted nationally in 2002. By making the settlements, Favalora said the archdiocese was not admitting that its priests committed abuse, but that the legal costs of defending the suits was getting too expensive. "As I told all Catholics (in 2004), this decision was made as prudent exercise of my stewardship of the archdiocese and in light of the inability of those lawsuits to ascertain if the alleged abuse actually took place," Favalora wrote in The Florida Catholic newspaper. Church officials said insurance covered the settlements and the money did not come from members' donations. "We pay premiums to private insurers on our insurance policies that cover all of these areas, from workmen's compensation to property damage to sexual-misconduct claims," archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said Monday. According to the archdiocese, 40 of its priests have been accused of sexually abusing children since it was founded in 1958. From 1966, the year the insurance coverage began, through 2003, the archdiocese said it paid out $2.1 million to settle 64 sex abuse cases. The Miami Archdiocese includes 1.2 million Catholics in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Its payout was not nearly as steep as other U.S. dioceses. Orange County, California, for example, agreed to pay $100 million in one group settlement. The Boston Archdiocese paid $87 million in another group settlement.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.