In what an attorney described as the largest single child sexual abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the United States agreed to pay $880 million to victims of decades-old clergy sexual abuse.
On Wednesday, October 16, the agreement in principle was announced.
After the announcement, Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a statement, “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart.”
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added.
“I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”
After months of talks with the archdiocese, the settlement was struck by the lawyers representing 1,353 victims who claim they were subjected to horrifying abuse by local Catholic priests, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The deal ends 25 years of legal action against the United States’ most populous archdiocese.
In a joint statement, the plaintiffs’ liaison committee’s attorneys stated that “there is justice in accountability, even though no amount of money can replace what was taken from these 1,353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for decades.”
In accordance with the settlement, the plaintiffs will divide the settlement money among the participants in a procedure independent of the archdiocese.
According to the Times, this deal would bring the total payout to almost $1.5 billion. The archdiocese has already paid $740 million to plaintiffs in a number of settlements and promised to better protect its church members.
The payment is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to a statement from the lead negotiator, attorney Morgan Stewart.
hese survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse.
Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get this resolved,” Stewart told the Times.
The settlement will be funded by archdiocese investments, accumulated reserves, bank financing, and other assets.
According to the archdiocese, certain religious orders and others named in the litigation will also cover some of the cost of the settlement, the Times said.
