When the Church Compensates Victims
By Malo Tresca
On December 5, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference finalized the establishment of a compensation fund for persons sexually abused by religious where victims are barred from legal action because of the expiry of the statute of limitations period. The decision was announced yesterday before a handful of victims who gathered under the imposing arches of the Valere basilica in Sion for a “penitential prayer” service.“We wanted a tangible sign of recognition – going beyond pardon and prayer – of the moral responsibility of the Church, expressed in the form of financial compensation,” states Jacques Nuoffer, president of the Support Group for Persons Abused in a Relationship with Religious Authority (SAPEC).The fund will compensate victims who address themselves to “contact points,” namely the ecclesial commissions in each diocese. These victims include those who have already submitted a request to the Commission for Listening, Conciliation, Arbitration and Reparation (CECAR), a body specially created in French-speaking Switzerland to offer them recognition and reparation.“We want a neutral commission that is independent of Catholic Church authorities so that the latter do not remain on a ‘pedestal’ with respect to victims,” explains Nuoffer, who has worked since 2010 for the establishment of the commission. Its implementation follows an agreement that was reached at the end of 201 between the SAPEC group, Bishop Charles Morerod of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg and other parties, with the support of parliamentarians.In the most serious cases, victims will be eligible for up to 20,000 Swiss francs (18,600 ˆ) compensation from a fund to be constituted by contributions from the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (CEF), the Union of Major Superiors of Switzerland and the Central Roman Catholic Conference of Switzerland.“The initial sum of 500,000 francs (460,000 ˆ) may be increased as required,” explains Sylvie Perrinjaquet, former national adviser and president of CECAR, who says that she has she has already received “a first series of request dossiers.” The CES is not concerned for the moment with eventually exceeding the initial amount.In Switzerland, victims will be heard from January by a listening committees comprising three people with a legal, social or child psychology background. An abuse victim himself, Jacques Nuoffer notes that it was “the Belgian Center of Arbitration model that helped greatly to get things moving.”Developed on the initiative of parliamentarians between March 2011 and October 2012, the Belgian center, which is supported by the Church but which remains outside of its structures, has been contacted by 628 victims, “who no longer had any confidence in pastoral authorities.” The Belgian Church is estimated to have spent nearly four million euros on compensation.In English-speaking countries where the legal tradition of “damage and interest” is very strong, such compensation can reach considerable figures. According to research carried out by the National Catholic Reporter and published in November 2015, the powerful American Church has paid out up to four billion US dollars (3.84 billion euros) to victims since 1950.In most cases, a settlement is reached to avoid trials that would surely prove more costly. Dioceses have taken on loans or sold properties to meet these sums. Moreover, since 2004, fifteen dioceses have been declared bankrupt. In Canada, to date, it has mostly been insurance companies that have contributed to the partial or total payment of these sums.Nevertheless, these cases cannot be directly compared with the situation in France where the civil justice tradition is quite different. Settlements are much less frequent and the compensations lower.Beyond these differences, however, the issue of compensation for victims by the French Church where the events took place outside the legal time limit, as in the Swiss or Belgian model, does not seem to be on the agenda.On the side of victims, the association La Parole liberee has indicated that it is not aware of any rise in demand for compensation. However, its president Francois Devaux believes that “there is a moment where leaders need to assume the financial consequences of their acts.”“The permanent council (of the French Bishops Conference/CEF) and the permanent cell of struggle against pedophilia have taken up the issue,” emphasizes Segolaine Moog, CEF delegate for the fight against pedophilia.“The current position is that these issues should be resolved before the courts,” she said.
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