Originally published at National Catholic Register
Lawyers for both victims and the archdiocese said in a joint press release that the settlement would address 1,353 childhood sexual-abuse claims filed against the California archbishopric.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced a massive $880-million clergy-abuse settlement on Wednesday, a record payout that Archbishop José Gomez expressed hope would “provide some measure of healing” for abuse victims.
Lawyers for both victims and the archdiocese said in a joint press release that the near-$1-billion settlement would address 1,353 childhood sexual abuse claims filed against the California archbishopric.
The mediation process, conducted under retired California Judge Daniel Buckley, took roughly a year.
Abuse survivors filed the claims against the archdiocese following the state’s enactment of Assembly Bill 218, which offered victims a three-year window to file civil abuse claims that had otherwise gone beyond the statute of limitations.
Archbishop Gomez in a statement on Wednesday said the settlement — the largest ever for a U.S. diocese or archdiocese — would “provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”
It would also allow the archdiocese “to continue to carry out our ministries to the faithful and our social programs serving the poor and vulnerable in our communities.”
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