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	Penance: $660 Million St. Louis Post-Dispatch July 21, 2007 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/ 1E2A123ADFE659C28625731F0001993E?OpenDocument The Archdiocese of Los Angeles this week agreed to pay $660 million to 508 people who say they were victims of sexual abuse by priests. Most of the incidents occurred when the victims were children. Victims will be compensated according to the severity of their abuse, but the average settlement will be $1.3 million per case — considerably more than victims of similar outrages in St. Louis receive. Here, the church quietly has settled about 75 of roughly 100 abuse cases, according to David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Most victims settled for between $12,000 and $70,000, he said, with only about half a dozen plaintiffs receiving more than $100,000. The Archdiocese of St. Louis says it has paid $6.8 million in settlements over 10 years. The disparity lies partly in differences in the law. Statutes of limitations in Missouri and Illinois restrict civil suits based on acts that occurred many years ago. Abuse plaintiffs know that their cases might be dismissed, so they settle for lower amounts. California suspended its statute of limitations for one year in 2003, prompting a flood of lawsuits. The Los Angeles cases accused more than 200 priests and went back nearly 70 years. In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony faced the prospect of testifying in public as several cases drew close to trial. The Los Angeles Times, quoting documents released during the litigation, reports that Cardinal Mahony allowed 16 priests to remain active in the ministry for periods of up to 13 years after parishioners complained about the priests' behavior with children. A prince of the church was about to be grilled publicly over his failure to halt child sexual abuse by priests. An institution that lives by moral authority stood to lose quite a bit of it. And the scene would have played out many times. The church paid heavily to avoid that. Although the settlement effectively will end a chapter in the sad saga of clerical abuse that has spanned decades, the resolution will come at a huge cost to the Los Angeles archdiocese. More than $114 million has been promised in previous settlements, bringing the total liability for clergy misconduct in the archdiocese to more than $774 million. The figure dwarfs the next largest settlements in the United States, including those reached in Boston, at $157 million, and in Portland, Ore., at $129 million. The more troubling question continues to be how the church hierarchy — in St. Louis, Los Angeles and across the nation — could have allowed such abuse of children to happen. Bishops heard reports of pedophilia, but let the priests work with children anyway. Too often, they were transferred to new parishes with no warning to the new parishioners. Part of the reason lies in the church's deep fear of scandal. Bishops tended to hush things up rather than have priests exposed as less than godly. The Catholic clergy is a tight brotherhood, and there was great reluctance to expel a member. To the extent that church leaders protected their institution at the expense of children, their actions were despicable. To the extent that some dioceses have hidden behind legalisms — narrow interpretations of their civil responsibilities, bankruptcy pleadings to avoid court judgments — they should be ashamed. But part of the bishops' behavior also stemmed from the church's deep belief in redemption — that sinners can repent, be forgiven and go off as reformed men. In the 1970s and '80s, that belief was abetted by a weak understanding of pedophilia among psychologists. In some cases, priests were shipped off for treatment, declared "cured" and then sent back to parishes. Scarred by scandal, the church has taken action to see that this sort of thing never happens again. The current policy is to permanently remove priests facing one credible report of abuse. In the St. Louis Archdiocese, everyone who deals with children is trained to spot signs of abuse. It will take time to see if these policies are adequate — or if bishops faithfully follow them. No amount of money adequately can compensate a victim of sexual abuse, though the settlement figures in Los Angeles come closer than those in St. Louis. Prosecutors should continue to bring criminal priests to justice. The church, meanwhile, must rebuild its reputation. Catholics now know that certain priests, whom they trusted with knowledge of their sins, could not be trusted with their children. Good priests — the vast majority — must live under the shadow cast by the scandal and cover-up. The church hierarchy can remove that shadow only gradually, and only by placing the welfare of children first.
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