CALIFORNIA
Insurance News Net
By Jeremy Hay, The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
July 16–The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa has paid $3.5 million to a teenager who was molested by a Lakeport priest, one of the largest settlements paid out by the North Coast diocese in a series of sexual abuse cases that spanned more than two decades.
An attorney for the victim attributed the settlement’s size partly to the church’s failure to protect children from the Rev. Ted Oswald, even though it was aware he had abused others. Oswald molested the boy, then 12, in 2010, the same year the priest died, with some of the incidents taking place in the Lakeport parish church.
“But for the diocese’s actions, it is entirely possible that this 12-year-old boy would never have been molested,” said Skye Daley, the victim’s attorney.
Bishop Robert F. Vasa, who has led the diocese since 2011, was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment. Diocese spokesman Brian O’Neel rejected Daley’s assertion.
“When the diocese became aware of this most recent allegation, they removed Father Oswald from ministry and reported the situation to civil authorities,” O’Neel said. “The diocese could not do more than the civil authorities could.”
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