L.A. Catholic Church Apologizes for 'Terrible Sin and Crime'; Pays Record Amount to Victims
The leader of the largest U.S. Roman Catholic archdiocese has apologized for what he called a "terrible sin and crime" as the church confirmed it would pay a record $660 million to people who were sexually abused.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, led by Cardinal Roger Mahony, agreed to pay 508 victims the largest-ever group settlement.
"I have come to understand far more deeply than I ever could the impact of this terrible sin and crime that has affected their lives," Mahony said.
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"There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. Once again, I apologize to anyone who has been offended, who has been abused. It should not have happened, and it will not happen again."
Mary Ferrell, 59, a nurse who was abused in the late 1950s, said the payment will not ease all her suffering.
"I appreciate the size of it because I think it shows the culpability and guilt of the Catholic church," she said, according to Reuters. "It will change my life in that my life will become easier financially, but I don't think that it is going to cure all the pain and suffering."
The Catholic church has faced abuse allegations from victims saying that church leaders often knew of the abuse but did not do enough to stop it, sometimes moving priests known to have abused minors to new parishes instead of defrocking them or reporting them to authorities.
Since 1950, the Catholic church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics.
Protestant numbers, meanwhile, have been harder to come by and are sketchier because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic church. Many congregations are independent, which makes reporting even more difficult.
Some of the only numbers come from three insurance companies – Church Mutual Insurance Co., GuideOne Insurance Co. and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co. – which insure the majority of Protestant churches in America. They reported to The Associated Press last month that they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.
Christian Post reporter Eric Young in Washington contributed to this report.
