Los Angeles — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of decades-long clergy sexual abuse, a lawyer said. The settlement was announced Wednesday as the largest single child molestation settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.
After announcing the agreement in principle, Archbishop José H. Gomes said in a statement, “I sincerely apologize for each of these incidents.”
“I hope that this agreement will bring some measure of healing to the suffering these men and women have experienced,” the archbishop added. “I believe we have reached a resolution of these claims that will provide fair compensation to the survivor-victims of past abuse.”
Lawyers for 1,353 people who say they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests have reached a settlement with the archdiocese after months of negotiations, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The settlement concludes 25 years of litigation against the nation’s most populous archdiocese.
In a joint statement, attorneys from the Plaintiff Liaison Committee said, “There is no amount of money that can replace the money taken from the 1,353 brave individuals who suffered in silence for decades, but there is justice in accountability.”
Under the agreement, the plaintiffs will engage in a process without the Archdiocese’s involvement to allocate the settlement amount to the participants.
The settlement will bring the total payout to more than $1.5 billion, as the archdiocese previously paid $740 million to victims of various settlements and pledged to better protect church members, the Times said.
Attorney Morgan Stewart, who led the negotiations, said in a statement that this was the largest settlement for sexual abuse of unmarried children by a Catholic archdiocese.
“These survivors have suffered the aftermath of their abuse for decades. Dozens of survivors died. They are getting older, and many of those who know about abuse in the church are also getting older. “It’s time to fix this,” Stewart told the Times.
The settlement will be funded by archdiocese investments, reserves, bank financing and other assets. According to the archdiocese, certain religious groups and other groups named in the lawsuit will also bear a portion of the costs of the settlement, the Times reported.
