Dioceses sell property, reduce staffs to pay abuse settlements

Published: 2007-12-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The clergy sex abuse scandal continued to have a major financial impact on U.S. Catholic dioceses in 2007 as multimillion-dollar settlements were reached with abuse victims and dioceses funded their share by selling church property, reducing staff and, in at least one case, soliciting contributions from priests and lay Catholics. In California alone, financial settlements from decades-old abuse cases exceeded $1.8 billion after the statute of limitations was lifted for one year. The Diocese of San Diego began bankruptcy proceedings early in 2007 just as the Diocese of Spokane, Wash., and the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., emerged from bankruptcy brought on by costly abuse settlements. In early December, the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, agreed to an abuse settlement of $37 million. The agreement, which required the approval of the bankruptcy judge to take effect, will allow the diocese to come out of bankruptcy, which it filed last year in anticipation of the sex abuse lawsuits. Two years before filing, the diocese had reached settlements with abuse victims totaling more than $10.5 million. This fall, the San Diego Diocese and the San Bernardino Diocese agreed to pay $198.1 million to settle lawsuits brought by 144 people who claimed they were abused by church personnel between 1938 and 1993.

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