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Insurance, Past Donations to Cover Clergy Sex Settlement By Alex Wood Journal Inquirer [Connecticut] November 21, 2005 Insurance companies will pay more than half the $22 million that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay to 43 people who alleged that priests sexually abused them, an archdiocesan spokesman says. The rest of the money will come from the archdiocese's self-insurance fund and from its savings, according to the spokesman, the Rev. John P. Gatzak. "It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that the self-insurance and savings come, at one time or another, from the generosity of parishioners," Gatzak said last week. "The church is the people of God." And money spent for one purpose can't be spent for something else, he acknowledged. But Gatzak said no Catholic schools will be closed or otherwise affected by the settlement -- and that it won't cause the closing or merger of any parishes. If parishes are closed in the future, he said, the settlement won't be the reason. Gatzak also stressed repeatedly in interviews about the financial effects of the settlement that none of the settlement money will come from the Archbishop's Annual Appeal. Nor will it come from parishes, he said. In an interview conducted within a few days of the Oct. 31 announcement of the settlement, Gatzak said it should have no impact on the mission of the church or on its charitable activities. "The work of the church should be unaffected," he said. When pressed for specifics on the ultimate sources of the settlement money, Gatzak requested that the questions be submitted in writing. The Journal Inquirer faxed him a letter containing detailed questions on the sources of the funds and on any past or future effects of the settlement on church activities. When called back last week to check on the status of the information request, Gatzak said it would take a great deal of effort for church personnel to do the research necessary to answer the questions. Bridgeport lawyer Jason Tremont, who represented 15 of the people who alleged they were sexually abused by priests, said the church didn't want to say the settlement was "coming out of parishioners' money." But he added, "Obviously it all comes out of the same pot." The archdiocese clearly has a delicate task in discussing the settlement because people generally don't like paying for the wrongdoing of others -- and might be deterred from making contributions if they felt their money was being used in that way. In the Archdiocese of Boston, donations fell by about 50 percent, to some $8 million, in 2002 amid a child sexual-abuse scandal that led to an $86 million settlement, according to published reports. But donations rebounded to more than $10.8 million last year. Gatzak said it would be "tragic" if the settlement harmed the church's charitable activities, such as feeding and clothing the poor, "because that is what Jesus Christ asked us to do." |
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