A new record payout.
Hundreds of people who claim they were abused by clergy affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles can expect to be paid more than $1 million each in a $660 million settlement of their lawsuits. The deal, by far the largest settlement in the church’s sexual abuse scandal, was reached Saturday, said Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiff’s attorney.
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The settlements push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.
When you look at the pattern of abuse and cover-up the Catholic church has used - and still uses (like the way the church shuttled off pedophile protector Cardinal Bernard Law into their protection) - for years now, I do not understand why the government refuses to investigate the entire thing under the RICO statute. It is clearly an organized strategy that has damaged and taken the lives of thousands.
What kills me is it is not “the churches” that pay out. It’s their parishoners.
What if the church decided to not tolerate sexual abuse and told the poor to keep their money and use it for their basic needs?
The idea of a poor latino dishwasher in L.A. chipping in to the sexual molestation fund just kills me.
RICO? Suave!
You might be interested in reading my blog piece
The Shame of the Catholic Church: Money spent on covering up rather than charity at http://alligatorreport.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/the-shame-of-the-catholic-church-money-spent-on-covering-up-rather-than-charity/
I don’t see rape or sexual assaults listed as predicate acts in § 1961(1). I might be missing something.
The sad fact is that only a few courageous persons are willing to take on the Roman Catholic Church.
The parishioners who continue to support the church are in denial about how long this has been going on and how widespread it is.
If this conduct were carried on in non-Christian churches, the cable shows would be talking about it every single day.
Maybe Fuhrer Ratzinger could help pay for some of the cost by selling his Prada lofers, Gucci sunglasses, custom gold cufflinks and stop using the two tailors that make all his snazzy outfigs?
It amazes me that they have the nerve to ask people for money. 2 billion dollars. And they’re passing a hat to their parishioners.
Alright, just so I can be completely fucking clear about this, because its happened enough that clarification is demanded.
Atheists objecting to the corrupt self-indulgencies of organized religions = Evil stupid fire-and-brimstone dogmatists with nothing to contribute.
Self-Identified “Agnostiscs” objecting to the corrupt self-indulgencies of organized religions = Sensible critique of religion that has something to contribute to an ongoing discussion in society.
Have I just about got a bead on things here or is there something I might have missed. Just curious.
Also hungover, but mostly curious.
It’s more like atheists wildly thrashing about on religion in general.
Pedophilia does not fall under the RICO umbrella. To make a claim you would basically have to allege that the Catholic Church as a whole is a criminal organization and is thus commiting some type of chargeable fraud. While the Church is far from perfect, you will be hard pressed to find too many people, particularly politicians, who believe that the Church is purely criminal.
Actually, the RICO part I think would be the church’s conspiracy to cover up the crime.
It’s a good idea, but will never happen, because it’s political dynamite, unfortunately.
Maybe someone should investigate the number of students abused sexually by teachers, male and female alike. I/m sure the NEA would have no objections
The Catholic Church would be forgotten in short order.
If this conduct were carried on in non-Christian churches, the cable shows would be talking about it every single day.
The fact that you don’t hear about such behavior in non - Catholic churches is most certainly not because it doesn’t occur, just as stories about the constant sexual abuse of children in schools don’t fill the news every day; it is precisely because you are wrong
.
The settlements amount to about $1 million, hardly remuneration for serious abuse.
This seems to any disinterested observer to be a case of “deep pockets” lawsuits.
If any of those individuals sued the Parish where the alleged incident occurred, their chances of getting a million dollars would have been somewhere between none, and “are you kidding?”
Ever notice that when these teachers get charged with sexual abuse, neither the Board of Education nor the city gets sued?
The idea of a poor latino dishwasher in L.A. chipping in to the sexual molestation fund just kills me.
trifecta, how do you feel about a hundred million poor people contributing to the waste of time and energy known as the American public school system via the lottery?
Please, spare me the phony indignation