KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Post
The $120 million settlement announced Friday in the class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington is the largest yet in the nationwide scandal involving priests who molested children.
About $80 million will come from insurance, the rest from investments and sales of real estate. No amount of money can make things right, but this is an incredible figure, especially compared to other settlements in places like Boston and Louisville.
Already the church has laid off employees and announced plans to sell the Catholic Center in Erlanger and move offices into vacant space in Covington.
Bierman begs
In a related story, the man whose trial and conviction came to epitomize the whole sexual abuse crisis involving priests in the Covington diocese apparently is dying of cancer and wants out of prison early. Suspended priest Earl Bierman pleaded guilty in 1993 to 28 sexual abuse charges involving six boys in the 1960s and '70s and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His remains the only priest abuse case to have gone to trial.
Bierman, 73, has shown no remorse and little recognition of the suffering he caused. It's incredible that he wants mercy now. He will meet with the Kentucky Parole Board July 7.
Posted by kshaw at June 4, 2005 04:07 AM