Boston Archdiocese OKs Settlement

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, the epicenter for nearly two years of a worldwide clerical abuse scandal, broke new ground Tuesday with an $85-million settlement offer to 552 people who say they or their children were molested by priests.

The agreement follows months of negotiations, and must be ratified by 80% of the plaintiffs. It is the largest publicly disclosed settlement in the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the church all the way to the Vatican.

Victims would receive payouts ranging from $80,000 to $300,000. Individual awards would be determined by an independent mediator, based on the type and duration of abuse as well as injuries suffered. Among the plaintiffs are some parents of alleged abuse victims, who would receive $20,000.

Thomas Hannigan, a lawyer for the archdiocese, said he hoped financial restitution could be completed by Christmas.

Both sides credited new Archbishop Sean Patrick O’Malley with expediting the proposed settlement, which could have broad implications across the nation. In California, attorneys representing at least 500 alleged victims are negotiating a possible settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and four other regional dioceses.

Victims in Boston, some who as youths had endured sexual abuse by men they trusted -- their parish priests -- said the significance extends beyond any dollar amount. The agreement brings vindication, they said Tuesday, and a new measure of credibility for the church.

“From this day forward, I am not an ‘alleged’ victim of clergy sexual abuse,” said Gary Bergeron, who says he was molested as a boy by the late Father Joseph Birmingham. “I am recognized. I am a survivor.”

Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the agreement could lead to healing within the church. “These were among the cases that precipitated 20 months of soul-searching by the church,” he said. “We are visibly seeking to heal our wounds caused by sexual abuse.”

In addition to financial compensation, the agreement guarantees that the archdiocese would pay for psychological counseling for victims. The church also agreed to establish a program for “spiritual healing” for victims -- Catholics who in many cases are so estranged from their faith that they refuse to set foot in a Catholic church.

“They are unable to connect with the church they were raised in,” said William Gordon, one of seven lawyers who served on a steering committee that negotiated the settlement. Gordon said that even if the victims did not return to the church as practicing Catholics, spiritual healing might allow them once again to take part in church rituals, such as weddings and funerals.

Another steering committee member, attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., said that the nonfinancial elements of the agreement -- which were crucial to plaintiffs -- were among the major sticking points in talks that late last week turned into round-the-clock negotiations.

MacLeish said, for example, that church representatives at first resisted a demand that all documents and videotapes amassed in the clerical abuse investigation be archived and made available to the public.

But advocates for the alleged abuse victims remained firm, MacLeish said, because “if we don’t remember these events, if we don’t have the information and remember what happened here in Boston, then things will all be for naught 10 years from now.” The provision became part of the document.

The abuse scandal has plagued the Boston Archdiocese since January 2002, when documents were released that showed that the church knew priests were molesting minors, but did not stop or prevent the abuse.

After resolving sexual abuse crises in the dioceses of Fall River, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla., Archbishop O’Malley was dispatched to Boston early this summer to succeed Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace. Law and his financial advisors said they could offer no more than $12 million to the abuse victims without bankrupting the archdiocese.

O’Malley appointed new lawyers and presented a settlement offer of $55 million. When talks threatened to break down on Sunday, O’Malley attended a negotiating session that lasted almost until midnight.

The archbishop made it clear that he wanted the cases settled, not pursued for years in court, said Jeffrey Newman, another lawyer on the committee.

“He did not hinge himself on legal technicalities,” Newman said. “It was not like talking with a lawyer. It was like talking with a human being.”

O’Malley was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and unavailable for comment. His spokesman, Father Christopher Coyne, said funds for the settlement would come largely from insurance and from the sale of up to 15 surplus properties. Coyne said no parish funds or Catholic charity funds would be involved.

“It’s a good day for the archdiocese,” Coyne said. “We haven’t had too many over the last couple of years, but this is one.”

Coyne said the archdiocese has 37 days in which to provide a plan for payment. Victims must approve the settlement within the same time period. Victims’ attorney Newman said the size of the award held symbolic value for some survivors. “It meant that the archdiocese was giving something up, which was important to some of these victims,” he said. “They felt they had given something up, too -- their childhoods.”

Barbara Blaine, national president of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said that, far from ending years of discord between victims and their church, the Boston settlement “in many ways is just a beginning.”

“It was almost as if the lawsuits had to be settled for the healing to begin,” Blaine said.

Although Tuesday’s settlement is the largest agreement of its kind, individual payments may be smaller than in some other cases of church abuse.

In June, the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., agreed to pay $25.7 million to 243 abuse victims. A jury in 1998 awarded nearly $120 million to 11 victims of one priest in Dallas, but that settlement was later reduced to about $31 million.

Two brothers who were molested received a $30-million jury award against the Diocese of Stockton, Calif. That amount was cut to $13 million. In January 2002, the Diocese of Tucson paid an estimated $15 million to settle 11 lawsuits by former altar boys. The Diocese of Providence, R.I., paid $13.5 million in September 2002 to resolve 36 claims.

The Boston Archdiocese reached a $10-million settlement in September 2002, with 86 victims of Father John Geoghan, whose prosecution helped ignite the scandal when documents revealed the extent of church knowledge of his pedophilia. Geoghan, sentenced to prison for child molestation, was killed last month by a fellow inmate.

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Times staff writer Larry Stammer contributed to this report.

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Details of agreement

Key provisions of the $85-million settlement reached Tuesday between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and 552 people who said they or their children were sexually abused:

* Victims have 37 days to opt in to the settlement. Their cases will then go to arbitration, where the amount of individual awards will be decided by a mediator based on the type and duration of abuse and injury suffered.

* Victims will receive no less than $80,000 and no more than $300,000. Parents who said their children were abused would receive a flat $20,000.

* The total settlement pool will be reduced proportionately based on the percentage of victims who do not participate. For example, if 10% of the victims opt out of the settlement, the total payout will be reduced by 10%.

* The archdiocese will pay for psychological counseling for victims for as long as they want treatment.

* An undetermined number of victims will be named to advisory boards to the church, including a board that reviews complaints against priests.

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles Times