HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant
This week's $22 million settlement involving sexual abuse claims against 14 Catholic priests in the Hartford Archdiocese is a sad reminder of a shocking scandal that refuses to go away.
Priests who were esteemed as trusted guardians of children too often took advantage of that relationship by fondling, raping and otherwise sexually molesting youths too scared to report the criminal abuse, fearing that no one would believe them. Cash settlements in dioceses across the nation indicate that the assaults involved many hundreds of priests and thousands of children.
The Hartford settlement covering complaints by 43 accusers came after two years of mediation in Bridgeport federal court. Six of the accused priests have died, four have retired, three were stripped of their priestly faculties, and one, the Rev. William Przybylo of SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in Hartford, remains in active ministry.