BishopAccountability.org
	Bishop Tells Parishioners Catholic Community on Hook for Abuse Associated Press, carried in KHQ April 13, 2007 http://www.khq.com/global/story.asp?s=6364679 Spokane, Wash. - Spokane Roman Catholic Bishop William Skylstad says today's church parishioners must atone for the actions of pedophile priests decades ago. In a letter in response to calls for his resignation over a proposed $48 million dollar settlement with victims of past clergy abuse, Skylstad says parishioners may not like it, "but that is the way it is." The 82 parishes in the Eastern Washington diocese are on the hook for contributing $10 million dollars toward the settlement by the end of this year. The settlement could be approved later this month in U-S Bankruptcy Court in Spokane. Four prominent Catholic businessmen wrote Skylstad saying they don't intend to contribute "a cent" to the settlement and urged him to step aside so another bishop could review the payouts. Skylstad replied that the settlement is necessary to bring the church out of the sex abuse crisis. The bishop wrote that scarpping the proposed settlement now would not be prudent. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2004 in the face of a growing number of sex abuse lawsuits.
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