UNITED STATES
KSDK
Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
Add another $10 million to the $2.5 billion that the Catholic Church in the USA has spent in confronting the clergy sex abuse crisis.
The settlement announced in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Tuesday notched up their tally to nearly $700 million in settlements to victims alone, not even adding in the costs of therapy, attorneys’ fees and more. Four men abused a quarter century ago by a now-defrocked priest will divide $10 million, the archdiocese said.
In 2007, the archdiocese, the nation’s largest, announced more than $660 million in settlements to 508 victims.That far surpassed the $84 million settlement record then held by Boston, epicenter of the scandal that exploded in the U.S. church in 2002.
Since then, the abuse scandal has driven up some horrifying statistics. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection and independent studies commissioned by the bishops, the latest tallies as of 2012 were:
• More than 6,905 accused priests since 1950.
• More than 16,463 victims identified to date, although there is no national database.
• $2.5 billion in settlements and therapy bills for victims, attorneys fees and costs to care for priests pulled out of ministry from 2004 to 2011.
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