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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: (Covington) Diocese settles abuse case for $120M Historic settlement is nation's largest by church to date in sex scandal The Diocese of Covington has agreed to pay up to $120 million to those who were allegedly molested by priests and other church employees over the past half century, the largest payout yet from any diocese in America in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis. The record-setting settlement, which eclipses those in abuse cases in much larger dioceses in Boston, Orange County, Calif., and elsewhere, comes in response to a lawsuit charging that church officials deliberately covered up the abuse for decades. It also dwarfs the $3 million that Archdiocese of Cincinnati officials agreed to put into a victims' compensation fund to address sexual abuse allegations. To help pay for nearly 50 years of abuse of children and teen-agers, the church will put the Catholic Center/Marydale property in escrow to help raise $40 million in cash for the settlement fund. The remaining $80 million will come from insurance. The settlement, announced Friday but subject to court approval, does not specify the number of victims or abusers. But in a 2003 report, the diocese admitted that it had named 158 victims and that 30 of the diocese's 372 priests since 1950 had sexually abused at least one child. "The amount strongly suggests that there is horrific evidence of long-term corruption and cover-up that church leaders desperately want to keep under wraps," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a Chicago-based organization that has several chapters in Kentucky. The settlement puts the Covington Diocese - which has 89,000 Catholics in 14 counties - at the epicenter of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the American Catholic Church over the past two decades. Its settlement fund is nearly one-third larger than that of the much-publicized $85 million paid to 552 victims in 2003 in Boston, the nation's fourth-largest diocese with about 2.1 million parishioners. It also topped the record set in Orange County, Calif., another much larger diocese outside Los Angeles, which in December agreed to pay $100 million to 90 victims. But lawyers and victims' advocates said that, depending on how many alleged victims come forward, the diocese ultimately might spend less than the full $120 million. The settlement fund will pay $5,000 to $450,000 to each victim, depending on the severity of the abuse and the individual's injuries. Individual awards within the agreed ranges will be determined by a settlement administrator, to be selected jointly by the parties. But the settlement also provides for those who suffered extraordinary injuries, permitting such individuals to apply to the settlement administrator for a supplemental award from a special fund. The Covington Diocese and lawyers for the victims, who had filed a class-action lawsuit in Boone Circuit Court, announced the settlement Friday in a press statement on the diocese's Web site. "After personally meeting with more than 70 victims, I am painfully aware that no amount of money can compensate for the harm these victims suffered as innocent children," Bishop Roger Foys. "Nevertheless, I pray that this settlement will bring some measure of peace and healing to victims and their loved ones. I offer a profound apology to those who were sexually abused by priests of the Diocese of Covington and especially to those who, in the past, were not treated with respect and courtesy when they came forth." A portion of the settlement funds will be set aside to help the diocese make professional counseling available to victims. "I think it's a fair settlement," said Kay Montgomery, a Lexington woman who worked out her own settlement with church officials over the abuse she suffered at the hands of a Northern Kentucky priest. "I'm happy for the victims of this class-action suit. I know they're relieved. It's a relief for them not to have to go to court and fight the battle in the judicial system." The church agreed to pay its $40 million share from investments and real estate. Foys pledged that no parish property, parish funds or Annual Appeal donations would be used for the settlement. In addition to Marydale, the church said it would put properties that it owns in Union and Crittenden into escrow. Any money not paid out in settlements will be returned to the church, according to Friday's agreement. Foys said he hopes to develop a plan to redeem a portion of the Marydale property, principally the former seminary building and the priests' cemetery, from the settlement fund. Stan Chesley and Robert Steinberg, the Cincinnati attorneys who filed the lawsuit, expressed satisfaction over the agreement. Steinberg said documents will be filed next week in Boone Circuit Court - perhaps as early as Monday - outlining the terms of the agreement. Special Judge John Potter, a retired circuit judge from Louisville who is overseeing the case, will then schedule a hearing to determine whether he will approve the settlement. "Stan Chesley, on behalf of the class ... stated that the class is very pleased with the settlement," said a statement Steinberg read. In the announcement of the settlement, Chesley said a significant part allows any person who claims to have been sexually abused in any way by any clergy or employee of the diocese to make a claim. The claim will be looked at regardless of when it occurred, without regard to any statute of limitations restrictions. While church records show that some of the abuse in Northern Kentucky began in the 1950s, it wasn't until 1992 that the abuse came to light. It was then that a former priest, Jerome "Jerry" Junker, went public with his allegations that Father Earl Bierman performed oral sex on him, fondled him and arranged sexual activity between him and other boys while they were pupils at Covington Latin School in the early 1970s. Junker's coming forward pushed other to do so, and soon the Covington Diocese faced a full-fledged crisis. At the same time, similar complaints about priests were being made around the nation. Locally, it didn't stop with Bierman. Other people came forward, alleging they, too, had been abused by other priests. Bierman eventually went to prison, the only Northern Kentucky priest to be successfully prosecuted on sexual abuse charges over the years. He is serving a 20-year sentence, but will be considered for an emergency medical parole next month because he is dying of cancer. Although several of Bierman's victims filed lawsuits, only one case went to trial - that of John Secter, a Fort Thomas dentist who said Bierman abused him while the priest was a teacher and counselor at Covington Latin. A Kenton County jury awarded Secter $737,500. Most of that, $700,000, was in punitive damages, and it remains one of the larger such verdicts in Northern Kentucky. The issue quieted down for awhile, with sporadic reports of people making accusations or filing lawsuits that were settled. But in February 2003, Chesley dropped a bombshell: a lawsuit alleging a 50-year cover-up of sexual abuse, seeking class-action status. That came as dioceses and archdioceses across the nation were paying out staggering amounts for priests who abused children. 1n 1997, a jury in Dallas awarded 11 people abused by Father Rudolph "Rudy" Kos $119.7 million in damages. The Dallas Diocese later settled the case for $23.4 million. In 2002, the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., paid $14 million, and a year later, the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., paid $15.5 million. The crisis hit Kentucky hard. In June 2003, the Archdiocese of Louisville paid $25.7 million to 243 victims. And in the Diocese of Lexington - at one time part of the Covington Diocese - attorney Angela Ford settled 31 cases for more than $5 million. By early 2004, the Covington Diocese reported that it and its insurance carriers had paid $14.2 million to resolve more than 50 individual claims. Nationally, a study released in February 2004 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found that about 4 percent of all U.S. priests since 1950 have been accused of sexual abuse of children. The nation's 195 dioceses collectively have paid about $900 million in settlements and related expenses, and three dioceses - Tucson, Portland, Ore., and Spokane, Wash - have sought bankruptcy protection. U.S. dioceses temporarily removed more than 300 accused clergy members and defrocked 148 in 2004 alone, according to the bishops conference. When former Boone Circuit Judge Jay Bamberger certified Chesley's lawsuit as a class-action lawsuit, it became the first such lawsuit in the nation to have that status. Diocese lawyers strongly objected, and accused Bamberger of favoritism and asked him to step aside. He refused to do so, but shortly afterward retired from the bench and Potter was named to oversee the lawsuit. Potter urged a settlement, and both sides retained Kenneth R. Feinberg to serve as their mediator. Feinberg, founder of the Feinberg Group in Washington, is best known for his role as special master of the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. He also has helped mediate cases involving Agent Orange, silicon breast implants, asbestos, tobacco and nuclear facilities. Feinberg worked with the parties for several months, and by August 2004, both sides appeared near a settlement. They asked Potter to delay the trial, then scheduled for October. Several more times, the parties sought delays in the trail, saying talks were progressing. But in March, the talks seemed to have stalled. Feinberg had left, and attorneys appeared to be preparing for a very long, complicated trial. At a March 22 hearing, Potter ordered both sides back to the bargaining table. He told the diocese to bring representatives of its insurance carriers, and said both sides should have a "representative authorized to settle." Feinberg agreed to return to mediate. But his help might not have been used. In the joint statement, the parties thanked Feinberg, "who oversaw the initial stages of the settlement discussions." Chesley praised Foys for his willingness to reach a settlement. "After diligently working together, the diocese and counsel for the class were able to forge a remarkable settlement that would not have occurred but for the good faith and honest efforts of Bishop Foys and his representatives," Chesley said. "While this took a long time to accomplish, it could not have occurred without the commitment of both sides to work towards a fair and reasonable resolution." Foys said he fervently hopes the crisis has passed, emphasizing that the church will never again aid pedophile priests. "I give you my assurance that we have been doing, and will continue to do, all that is humanly possible to assure that this reprehensible behavior by priests will never again be repeated in our diocese," Foys said. "I am thankful that a settlement could be worked out which provides for compensation and professional counseling for victims, but which also preserves intact the parishes and the essential ministry and administrative functions of the diocese."
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#1. To: Zipporah (#0)
Hmmm...wonder if I should tell my M-I-L where that money she'll be putting in the collection plate tomorrow morning is REALLY going...
Right.. I know of someone that belonged to a church in
this diocese.. this was many years ago. She had foster children and found a
letter written to one of the boys who was about 15 or 16 at the time. The letter
was graphic speaking of this boys physical attributes.. When the foster mother
asked the boy about the letter was .. "I don't know why he thinks I'm gay".. she
was rather surprised ..thinking it was written by some girl.. She asked him who
wrote the letter.. and his reply was.. "Father ___" ..
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