Milwaukee archdiocese reaches $21 million settlement with sexual abuse victims

By Amy R. Connolly
UPI
August 5, 2015

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/08/05/Milwaukee-archdiocese-reaches-21-million-settlement-with-sexual-abuse-victims/7861438785410/

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee Jerome E. Listecki, seen here in 2011, announced the archdiocese reached a $21 million settlement with 330 victims of sexual abuse by clergy members.

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it has agreed to pay $21 million to hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy, clearing the way for the archdiocese to emerge from its five-year bankruptcy.

Under the agreement, 330 of the 570 who filed sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy will get financial settlements of varying amounts determined by a court-ordered administrator. The settlement also calls for a $500,000 therapy fund for abuse victims. The sum far exceeds the $4 million the archdiocese offered victims in February 2014. The settlement must be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley.

"Today, we turn the page on a terrible part of our history and we embark on a new road lined with hope, forgiveness and love," Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki said.

The dollar amount per victims is among the lowest in the many Roman Catholic Church bankruptcies nationwide filed to address sex abuse claims. In 2007, the San Diego diocese reached a nearly $200 million settlement with 144 people and in 2011 the Wilmington, Del. diocese settled for $77 million with 146 victims.

Critics are blasting the Milwaukee settlement as unjust and inadequate. Peter Isely, Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the average individual Milwaukee amount will be about $44,000, far less than the nationwide average of about $300,000.

"These rape victims were forced, literally, into settling with the church because if they did not, as laughably low as the compensation amount is, hundreds of victims would have received no compensation whatsoever," he said. "Settle now before hundreds of victims get tossed by the archdiocese (and, as the church lawyer said in court last month, they fully intend to 'spend down all the money'), or take the settlement. So, some victims chose to take less money for themselves so that other victims might get a little bit of help."