ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press
June 3, 2018
By Rubén Rosario
Things that made me scratch, nod or shake my head this past week:
A settlement for all seasons — $210,290,724. That’s the price tag the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis agreed to shell out to compensate more than 440 clergy sex abuse survivors after declaring bankruptcy three years ago. The settlement was the largest involving a Roman Catholic Church archdiocese that has filed for bankruptcy protection. It was reached after more than three years of “long and contentious” negotiations among an army of lawyers representing the archdiocese and insurance companies and the attorneys working with a survivors committee.
“This is a story of trauma to triumph and the pursuit of truth and accountability,” St. Paul-based attorney Jeff Anderson said during an emotional news conference Thursday.
The litigation, he noted, revealed 91 offenders and top church officials and their role in keeping a lid on or “managing” the sex abuse scandal. Of course, the lawyers on both sides will get their cut. But imagine if the church hierarchy here or in many other locales had done the right and moral thing: blow the whistle on the abusive clergy in their midst instead of transferring pedophile priests from one parish to another. Imagine if their first priority had been to protect and offer help to the child victims and their families instead of paying them under the table for their silence.
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