The Catholic Voice - an online publication of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland

April 17, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 8Oakland, CA

Sisters lead relief in 1906 quake
• Mercy Sisters send patients to Oakland, set up tent hospital
•Mission San Jose Dominicans take in children made homeless by quake

1906 disaster spurs new ministries in East Bay
•Holy Names Sisters move three times to escape fire engulfing San Francisco
•Presentation Sisters become refugees and relief workers
•Providence Sisters comfort quake victims at hospital in Oakland

Daughters of Charity remember 1906

‘Gospel of Judas’ paints favorable image
•'Gospel of Judas’ not likely to resolve theological debates, says bible scholar
•A brief explanation of gnosticism

Cost of clergy sex abuse in U.S. now exceeds $1.5 billion
•Judging effectiveness of abuse policy issues
•'Fraternal correction’ urged for two bishops

Hundreds of thousands flock to Washington D.C. immigration rally

Carondelet High students tackle
consumerism as issue of faith

New administrator named to St. Jarlath Parish

Project Andrew recruits priests

Peace activist priest to speak May 8 at Christ the King Church

Red Cross honors local heroes

Red Cross seeks church involvement

Holy Spirit School in Fremont wins
national award for innovation

Catholic book store relocates from S.F.

Cost of clergy sex abuse in U.S. now exceeds $1.5 billion

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The cumulative financial cost to the U.S. Catholic Church for clerical sexual abuse of minors is now more than $1.5 billion and still climbing.

A new report released March 30 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said U.S. dioceses, eparchies (Eastern-rite dioceses) and religious orders spent $467 million last year in settlements, therapy for victims and abusers, attorney fees and other costs related to sexual abuse of minors by priests or deacons.

A similar national survey the previous year revealed costs of $158 million.

In 2005, the Oakland Diocese paid out $56,408,000 in settlements and another $271,603 in therapy for victims.

An extensive national study of the U.S. church’s sexual abuse costs from 1950 to 2002, completed in early 2004, revealed costs during that period of at least $573 million.

The bishops did no national survey of 2003 costs, but a review of Catholic News Service archives shows that diocesan payments just for settlements and victim compensation funds that year ran more than $180 million.

If other 2003 costs such as attorney fees and therapy were even close to such other costs in 2004, the total abuse-related cost for dioceses in 2003 would likely have been well over $220 million. Such other costs totaled more than $51 million in 2004.

Nor is any nationwide tally publicly available for religious order costs in 2003. Religious orders accounted for more than $18 million of the church costs tallied in the 2004 national survey and more than $21 million in 2005.

Using a very conservative estimate of $225 million for total costs to dioceses and religious orders in 2003, the total church cost for clergy sexual abuse from 1950 through 2005 was at least $1,423,000,000.

In the first three months of 2006, settlements by four dioceses -- Boston, Covington, Ky., and Davenport and Dubuque in Iowa -- totaled more than $97 million.

Without even considering any other church costs accumulated so far in 2006, those settlements brought the U.S. church’s total cost for clergy sexual abuse of minors since 1950 beyond the $1.5 billion mark.

Judging effectiveness of abuse policy issues

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After three years of auditing dioceses to see if they have developed mandated programs to prevent child sex abuse, church officials now are looking to judge whether these programs are taking root. This re-evaluation involves the thorny issue of whether future auditors should be able to see clergy personnel files given right-to-privacy limitations to access in church and civil law.
Experts said this often boils down to balancing the right to privacy with the right of the public to information for the common good. It also raises the practical questions: How do you judge if pastors and Catholics in the pew know what to do if someone comes forward with an allegation? How do you know if a child can handle himself or herself if approached by an abuser?
“While the audit process records the presence of structures, policies and programs, it has not examined the effectiveness of these measures,” said Patricia O’Donnell Ewers, head of the National Review Board.

‘Fraternal correction’ urged for two bishops

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The National Review Board that monitors church efforts to deal with clergy sexual abuse of minors has called for “strong fraternal correction” of the bishops of the two dioceses that declined to participate in last year’s diocesan compliance audits
The Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., said in a statement that Bishop Fabian L. Bruskewitz exercised his option not to participate in the audit called for by the charter because the charter is “only an advisory document,” not “a law of the Catholic Church.”
A spokesman for the Melkite Eparchy of Newton, Mass., could not be reached immediately for comment on why its head, Archbishop Cyrille S. Bustros, refused to participate in the audit.

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