Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese pays $880 million to 1,353 sexual abuse victims

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the country, agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who claim they suffered sexual abuse as children from Catholic clergy, according to a joint statement released Wednesday by lawyers for the plaintiffs and the Archdiocese.

The agreement, considered by experts to be the largest payment made by a diocese, brings the total accumulated by Los Angeles in lawsuits for sexual abuse to more than $1.5 billion.

Following the announcement of the agreement, Archbishop José H. Gómez said in a statement:

“I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” wrote Archbishop José H. Gomez in an Oct. 16 letter to LA Catholics. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

Lawyers for the 1,353 people who reported abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the Archdiocese, ending a quarter-century of litigation against the most populous ecclesiastical constituency in the United States, according to a report published by the Los Angeles Times.

Morgan Stewart, the lawyer who led the settlement negotiations, said the resolution is the largest single child sexual abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.

Stewart said the timing of the settlement was important since many victims, witnesses and those responsible were getting older.

“These survivors have suffered the consequences of abuse for decades. Dozens of survivors have died. They are aging, and so are many of those who were aware of the abuse within the church. “It was time to resolve this,”  Stewart told the Times.

According to Archbishop Gomez,  some of the claims date all the way back to the 1940s.

The joint statement released by the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel said both sides went to mediation last fall to resolve the matter to develop a settlement plan that would offer compensation without bankrupting the archdiocese.

The statement also added that the archdiocese is “acknowledging its failures that enabled and perpetuated the harm that came to these children” and said that “while there is no amount of money that can replace what was taken from these 1353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for decades, there is justice in accountability.”

Gomez added that the settlement will be funded by “reserves, investments, and loans, along with other Archdiocesan assets,” not contributions from Catholic parishioners. Some religious orders and other people named in the litigation will also cover part of the cost of the settlement.

The Archdiocese has already paid $740 million to victims in several previous settlements, but has pledged to better protect members of its church.

While the settlement was a relief for many of the victims, some said the deep scars from abuse would never heal.

One Catholic in Los Angeles, identified by Sina English only as Timothy M, said the settlement was a positive step but still could not reverse the harm and injuries caused to the victims.

“My family knows one of the victims, and that's the sort of childhood trauma and shame that never leaves you, especially when it came at the hand of someone you trusted who is meant to be a moral guide and pillar of the community,” he said.