Archdiocese of Los Angeles to pay $880M in sexual abuse settlement
The agreement, believed to be the largest single settlement of its kind by a Catholic archdiocese, will settle 1,353 claims of childhood sexual abuse.
Some of the claims date to the 1940s, and the acts are alleged to have been perpetrated by archdiocesan clergy, lay people and religious order priests and clergy from other dioceses who were serving in Los Angeles, a letter from Archbishop José H. Gomez said. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the largest Catholic diocese in the United States.
“I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” Gomez wrote in the letter. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”
In a joint statement with an attorney for the archdiocese Wednesday, the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel expressed appreciation for the archdiocese “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.”
After the window for reviving claims closed, the archdiocese and attorneys for the plaintiffs underwent mediation last fall to seek a resolution that would allow defendants to provide compensation to victims, while also allowing the archdiocese to continue operating, the statement said.
Gomez said in his letter that funding for the settlement will come from “reserves, investments, and loans, along with other Archdiocesan assets,” and not from donations.
The Catholic Church has been grappling for years with the history of sexual abuse in its institutions around the world, rattling its members, who total more than 1.3 billion, and taking a toll on its reputation.
Allegations of sexual abuse have come from attendees of Catholic institutions in numerous countries including Costa Rica, Chile, Italy, Ireland, Australia and Canada.
Earlier this year, a Washington Post investigation found that for decades, Catholic priests, brothers and sisters sexually abused Native American children at remote U.S. boarding schools they were forced to attend.
In 2007, the same archdiocese in Los Angeles settled sexual abuse lawsuits involving more than 500 alleged victims for $660 million — the largest sexual abuse settlement by a diocese until this week. The new settlement brings the cumulative payout from the archdiocese to more than $1.5 billion.
The situation in California received renewed attention after the state passed a 2019 law that opened a three-year window in which cases were exempted from age limits and allowed alleged victims of sexual abuse to sue up to the age of 40. That window closed at the end of 2022. More than 3,000 lawsuits were filed against the Catholic Church in the state during the window. Facing an influx of suits, the dioceses of Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Rosa and San Diego filed for bankruptcy.
Responding to Wednesday’s news, Morgan A. Stewart, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in the statement, “The massive amount of this settlement reflects the amount of grievous harm done to vulnerable children and the decades of neglect, complicity and cover-up by the Archdiocese.” He urged other institutions in the Catholic Church “to meet their responsibilities and take accountability.”
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called the settlement “a good start” but said in a statement that “much work remains to be done.”
“We fear and believe there are many more survivors out there who have not yet come forward,” said SNAP Board of Directors Treasurer Dan McNevin. “It is incumbent on Archbishop José H. Gomez to find a way to bring those lost souls in from the cold⍐.”
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