MONTANA
Missoula News
By Ted McDermott
It sounds like a lot: $16.4 million. That’s the amount the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena has now proposed to pay those who filed suit over childhood sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of clergy and lay workers in western Montana. For those who have been involved in the long process of trying to redress the diocese’s wrongs and provide compensation for its victims, however, the planned payout isn’t enough to provide justice.
According to Bryan Smith, a lawyer representing 95 of the 362 claimants involved in a class-action lawsuit against the diocese, “The monetary amount certainly is not what we had hoped for, but the reality is that this diocese did not have the assets that a lot of other dioceses throughout the nation have to be able to fund a settlement.”
The diocese is so low on funds, in fact, that only $2 million of the settlement will come directly from its coffers. According to a bankruptcy reorganization plan the diocese filed on Nov. 17, various insurance carriers will provide the balance of the settlement money. The court will appoint a retired judge to decide how payments are broken down, based on the severity of the abuse and the effect of the abuse on victims’ lives, among other factors. The plan guarantees a minimum payment of $2,500.
In addition to the financial settlement, the diocese will make a number of non-monetary commitments designed to offer apology and prevent future abuse. While those commitments haven’t been finalized, Dan Fasy, another lawyer representing abuse survivors, anticipates they will be similar to those outlined in a 2011 settlement with Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits agreed to publish the names of abusers online, send letters of apology to victims and adopt a “whistle blower policy” for reports of abuse, among other measures.
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