World News
St. Louis Archdiocese settles eight abuse cases using mediation
Published:
ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of St. Louis settled eight cases of clergy sexual abuse in January in a mediation process. The settlements to be paid by the archdiocese total $267,500. The cases involved claims against five priests who have been removed from ministry: Fathers Romano Ferraro and Joseph Lessard and Michael McGrath, Donald Straub and Robert Yim. The latter three were recently dismissed from the priesthood by the Vatican. One case involved a religious order priest, Vincentian Father Richard Lause. That claim is being paid by the Vincentians. Father Ferraro is a suspended priest from the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. He currently is serving a life sentence in prison in Massachusetts. In May 2004, he was convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery on a child for crimes committed against a boy in Billerica, Mass., in the 1970s. Since January 2004, the mediation process has resulted in the settlement of 31 cases in the St. Louis Archdiocese for a total of $2,399,300. Approximately $742,000 was recovered from an insurance carrier.
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