Early this morning, as I was driving to the doctor's office for a blood pressure follow-up visit, my local NPR station aired a bit about the settlement that the local diocese has made with victims of sexual abuse. I have not followed it as much as I perhaps should have but it does pique my interest so I actually listen for a change.
Make the jump - or not...
Our diocese has been immersed in lawsuits over this issue for what seems like forever. There are several "camps" of interested parties: the lawyers, the victims, the clergy, and the parishioners. In each group there are also sub-groups with particular interests and biases. As a lay person, I have heard the most from this group of people.
One example: There is a small, but vocal, contingent that is angry because the diocese might be paying out to people who really weren't abused. It's hard to argue that people who were not really victims should be paid but I'm of the opinion that this needs to be settled without anymore messing around. The diocese has dragged its feet for years and it's simply impossible to maintain a faith community with all of this hanging over our heads. If someone gets $$ they don't deserve, we'll just have to let God take care of it.
The recent announcement of a bankruptcy agreement should, if allowed by the judge, begin to put this whole sordid mess to rest. What caught my attention in the broadcast was a little statement about four parishes where the worst abuse occurred. From what I can understand, these parishes will be "asked" to contribute a lot of $$ to the fund for the victims. I am still trying to assimilate this. The parishes had absolutely no say in what priests were assigned to them. In many cases, parishioners complained to the diocese for decades about abusive individuals and they were told all the standard things: don't say anything, we'll take care of it, can't bring scandal to the church, etc. Now these same communities who were terrorized by criminal priests must pay because the abuse took place there?!? This makes absolutely NO SENSE to me!
The diocese’s insurance company, Travelers, will pay $19.5 million. The diocese will pay $17.5 million. That money will come from a variety of sources: four parishes with the most severe abuse, the sale of the diocesan headquarters, the St. Vincent Home Corp., the sale of diocesan property and yet undetermined sources, possibly loans.
(emphasis mine) QC-Times full article
I realize that whatever the diocese has to pay comes from the parishes because that's where we contribute our $$, but I can't for the life of me understand a penalty against a parish because it was a worse victim than another one. Maybe I don't understand it correctly but I keep rereading it and that's what it sounds like to me.
Thanks for the space to rant. If there is anyone out there who can make sense of this, please let me know. What has happened in other dioceses that have declared bankruptcy? Have they asked the victims to chip in? Listening to/reading this reminds me of our government where nothing is as it seems or ought to be. Grrrr.