{"id":3466,"date":"2007-07-14T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-14T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html"},"modified":"2007-07-14T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-14T21:59:00","slug":"a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html","title":{"rendered":"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of people were expecting the sex abuse settlement in Los Angeles to be huge. Word today indicates it will be even bigger<\/a> — and worse — than expected: <\/p>\n

Lawyers for more than 500 victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy members say they are on the verge of settling their lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for as much as $650 million.<\/p>\n

If completed, it would be the largest payout made by any single diocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandals first became public in Boston in 2002. It would dwarf the $85 million paid for 552 claims by the Archdiocese of Boston.<\/p>\n

The lawyers in the Los Angeles cases said the settlement could be announced on or before Monday, when jury selection is set to begin in the first of the cases. But they said many details remained to be settled. Also, any agreement would require a judge\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Tod M. Tamberg, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said in an e-mail message that the only comment he could make was, \u201cThe archdiocese will be in court Monday at 9:30 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the archdiocese did not return calls for comment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/i> There’s more than enough pain and misery to go around in this nightmare. And it’s far from over. Years ago, visiting the cathedral in Los Angeles, I was struck by one of the side chapels, dedicated to victims of sexual abuse by priests. God only knows how much anguish has been expressed within those walls, or how that kind of pain will ever be healed — in the victims, or in the Church. <\/p>\n

All need our prayers, now more than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of people were expecting the sex abuse settlement in Los Angeles to be huge. Word today indicates it will be even bigger — and worse — than expected: Lawyers for more than 500 victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy members say they are on the verge of settling their lawsuits against…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles? - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles? - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lot of people were expecting the sex abuse settlement in Los Angeles to be huge. Word today indicates it will be even bigger — and worse — than expected: Lawyers for more than 500 victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy members say they are on the verge of settling their lawsuits against…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-14T21:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles? - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles? - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"A lot of people were expecting the sex abuse settlement in Los Angeles to be huge. Word today indicates it will be even bigger — and worse — than expected: Lawyers for more than 500 victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy members say they are on the verge of settling their lawsuits against…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2007-07-14T21:59:00+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html","name":"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles? - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-07-14T21:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-07-14T21:59:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-record-shattering-sex-abuse-settlement-for-los-angeles.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A record-shattering sex abuse settlement for Los Angeles?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}