Friday, January 28, 2005

Insurers Sue L.A. Archdiocese for Abuse Data

Three insurance companies have sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, accusing Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of refusing to share information about alleged sex abuse by priests, and precluding scrutiny of his activities as their supervisor.

The insurers have asked a judge to order Mahony to provide documents that could be used to defend the church or to relieve them of liability stemming from allegations by more than 535 people who say they were molested by priests since the 1930s.

"For whatever reasons, the archbishop's [Cardinal Mahony's] apparent goal is to obviate any meaningful disclosure of the facts and circumstances of these claims, and yet to pressure [the insurers] to contribute enormous sums of money" to settle the cases, according to the lawsuit.
...
More than $1 billion in damages could be assessed against the church, the insurance companies stated in the lawsuit. Of that total, the three insurers are "potentially at risk for hundreds of millions of dollars," said Raymond P. Boucher, court-appointed liaison counsel for the alleged victims in the Southern California clergy abuse cases.
Unbelievable - $1 Billion in damages...

No mention is made, however, of the spiritual costs - of the souls which might be eternally lost due to these scandalous crimes...

Article here.

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