A New Jersey diocese will compensate with 87.5 million dollars to some 300 victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by religious in the 1970s and 1980s, a “partial” settlement according to one of the defense attorneys.
(He is interested in: ‘We have to assume sexual abuse as other countries have done’)
This agreement announced on Tuesday adds to a long list of precedents in the United States, where The Catholic Church has been the object of investigations and revelations about sexual abuse for years.
(Read: Spanish Church counts more than 500 cases of sexual abuse of minors)
According to a classification made by the page bishop-accountability.org, it is one of the highest sums that are granted to compensate the victims. Only four deals have exceeded $100 million since the early 2000s.
The Bishop of the Diocese of Camden, located in southern New Jersey, Dennis J. Sullivan, expressed in a statement his “sincere apologies to all who were victims of sexual abuse in our diocese” and reiterated his commitment so that “this terrible chapter (…) never happens again”.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 to deal with compensation for victims and later released the names of the 56 priests and one deacon “credibly accused of sexually abusing minors,” most in the 1970s and 1980s. .
The money will be delivered to a fund that will be responsible for compensating the victims.
But according to one of the victims’ attorneys, Jeff Anderson, it is a “partial agreement” that leaves open the possibility for the victims to resort to justice “against the insurance companies” that represent the diocese and that “are They have refused to fulfill their obligations.
According to the lawyer, the agreement also provides “measures to protect minors” and the “diocese will have the obligation to publicly disclose the history of the abuses perpetrated.”
AFP
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