BishopAccountability.org
	An Archdiocese and 508 Victims San Francisco Chronicle July 17, 2007 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/17/EDG6QQ501M1.DTL&hw=abuse&sn=005&sc=752 California - FACING a no-win trial and a humiliating turn in the witness chair, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony took the only way out. He agreed to a record $660 million payout to settle a priest sex-abuse scandal. His action should buy legal peace for the country's largest archdiocese. But it won't end a disgraceful chapter in church history or doubts about Mahony's role in the long-delayed resolution. For more than four years, some 508 sex-abuse victims had pressed their complaints. It was a familiar story: Pedophile priests were transferred from parish to parish to parish whenever complaints arise. Some were sent to treatment programs and then returned to their duties where abusive behavior began again. Only rarely were the offenders prosecuted or defrocked. Church leaders repeated a pattern used by the Boston archdiocese, which experienced the first major sex-abuse scandal. The Los Angeles hierarchy played down the problem and engaged in years of legal foot-dragging to deny records and personnel files to lawyers for victims. But the risk of an outsized jury verdict and the specter of Mahony being called to testify led to the sweeping settlement at the 11th hour. In announcing the end, Mahony repeated past apologies for the archdiocese's missteps. He came around, he said, after meeting with many of the 508 plaintiffs, mostly young teenagers abused by priests and archdiocese employees. If money is any measure of the scandal, each plaintiff will receive about $1.3 million. More than $2 billion in similar settlements and judgments has been paid out nationally, including in San Francisco and Oakland. It's a pittance for lives that remain gravely damaged by childhood mistreatment. It's also a monumental monetary loss that will undercut the church's positive missions -- all because leaders refused to listen to their followers and admit error. If any good comes of this chapter, it's a hope that the church will be more watchful in spotting trouble -- and confronting and admitting its failures in protecting members.
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