After Abuse Settlement, an Apology to Victims

New York Times - July 16, 2007

by Laurie Goodstein


A day after agreeing to a record $660 million settlement with 508 victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony apologized to the victims for “this terrible sin and crime” and said he hoped the settlement would bring a “final resolution.”

Four years of legal combat ended in a settlement agreement late Saturday, just two days before the scheduled start of a trial in which Cardinal Mahony would have been required to testify.

The settlement is the largest in any Roman Catholic diocese, amounting to about $1.3 million per victim. The Catholic Church in the United States has so far paid more than $2 billion in settlements and legal judgments to victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Lawyers for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs said they were still negotiating details but expected to present an agreement for approval to the judge in the trial this morning.

Some parishioners in Los Angeles said that they were eager to see the victims compensated, but that the drawn-out legal battle had soured them on Cardinal Mahony’s leadership.

“I don’t think they’re getting enough money,” said Cheryl Ortega, 59, a parishioner at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church in Los Feliz, Calif. “There’s no amount that can compensate them.”

Steve Mills, 52, a parishioner at Our Mother of Good Counsel for 25 years, said he was appalled that the negotiations took so long and cost the archdiocese so much money that could have been used to help the poor or build schools.

“My opinion of the cardinal has gone down because of all this,” Mr. Mills said. “And it seems with everybody I talk to this is true.”

Cardinal Mahony said that $250 million of the settlement would be paid by the archdiocese, $227 million by insurers and $60 million by religious orders whose priests and brothers perpetrated some of the abuse. He said the remainder, $123 million, would come from “other sources,” including religious orders “not yet participating” in the settlement.

In previous settlements, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had already promised $114 million, bringing its total to about $774 million in settlements. Cardinal Mahony said that to pay for the settlements, the archdiocese would sell some properties, liquidate some investments and borrow money. He said he would not need to end any core functions or to sell any parish properties or schools.

The size of the settlement may reflect the tremendous financial risk to the archdiocese had it taken these cases to trial, said Carl W. Tobias, the Williams professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia.

“California judges and juries are more used to big settlements, or big verdicts,” Mr. Tobias said. “When the defendants are more concerned about their exposure, there is more willingness to pay more in a settlement.”

Abuse victims in Los Angeles said they were eager to move on but had some misgivings because they thought it likely Cardinal Mahony and other church leaders they believed to be culpable would never be held personally accountable.

Tony Almeida, a Los Angeles firefighter, said he had been emotionally preparing himself to testify at the trial that the Rev. Clinton Hagenbach, now dead, repeatedly molested him and other altar boys and once pinned him down and raped him. Mr. Almeida, 44, said he attributed his alcoholism, aggression, depression and two broken marriages, in part, to the abuse and the years of suppressing the memories.

“My life is just a mess,” Mr. Almeida said. “With therapy, I think I’m doing a little better. This settlement is not going to fix everything, I understand that,” he said, but added, “It is a compensation for what I’ve gone through. But I still feel the church needs to be held accountable for what they’ve done to me, and my life.”

John Manly, a lawyer for 50 of the victims, said the victims had been forced to use the civil courts to expose sexual predators and call church officials to account because the criminal justice system had failed.

“I think the question people need to ask themselves is how can Roger Mahony pay three-quarters of a billion for criminal acts, and essentially walk free?” Mr. Manly said. “Especially since it’s other people’s money, and he has clearly been given special treatment by law enforcement and the power structure in L.A. When is there going to be some accountability, and if not, why?”

Cardinal Mahony said at a news conference on Sunday: “Yes, I’ve made mistakes. But I didn’t know” that the treatment programs where he sent some predatory priests, before returning them to ministry, were not effective. He said he would have had no problem testifying in court.

Cardinal Mahony said to the victims that he wished he could restore their lives to where they were before the abuse occurred. “Your life, I wish, were like a VHS tape” that could be rewound, he said.

Michael Parrish contributed reporting.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/us/16abuse.html?