CALIFORNIA
Reuters
Fri Aug 5, 2005 9:28 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, agreed on Friday to pay $56.3 million to settle 56 cases of sexual abuse of children by priests from 1962 to 1985, lawyers and the church said.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Rick Simons said the settlement represented all abuse cases against the Oakland diocese, with the amounts per victim ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $2 million.
"This news is a great relief to those Catholic children who silently suffered for years with the pain and harm of sexual abuse by their priest," he said.
The Catholic Church in the United States has faced hundreds of lawsuits in recent years involving charges of pedophilia by some priests.
Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron again expressed his regret about the crimes dating back decades.
"I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors," he said in a statement. "It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing."