BOSTON (MA)
Leading the Charge
Staff and agencies
04 January, 2006
By Belinda Yu Tue Jan 3, 8:20 PM ET
BOSTON - Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse by priests rejected on Tuesday a settlement offer by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston that they called "demeaning," "cruel," and "immoral."
The archdiocese has offered average payments of $75,000 per person to settle claims from about 100 people who say they were sexually abused during a pedophile priest scandal that surfaced in Boston in 2002 and spread to other U.S. parishes.
"Every part of the proposal is unacceptable," Carmen Durso, a lawyer representing 33 plaintiffs, told a news conference.
In a 2003 settlement with 540 victims of sexual abuse, the Boston archdiocese paid an average award of $153,000, or a total of about $85 million.