LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter
[Archive of Franciscan Sex Abuse in the Province of St. Barbara – BishopAccountability.org]
May. 24, 2012
By Catholic News Service
LOS ANGELES — More than 8,500 pages of material detailing claims of sexual abuse by a group of Franciscan priests and brothers in California were made public Wednesday.
The release of the documents was one unfinished item of business from a 2006 court settlement that awarded $28 million, the vast majority of it from the St. Barbara Province of the Franciscan Friars and Brothers, to settle abuse claims from 25 plaintiffs.
The province, based in Oakland, used the proceeds from the sale of a closed seminary, where many of the incidents were alleged to have occurred, to help finance the settlement. The high school seminary closed in 1987.
As part of the settlement, the Franciscans agreed to let a judge review for possible public dissemination internal church documents as well as depositions in the litigation, showing how the order handled sexual abuse allegations among its clerics.
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