Clergy Sex Abuse Payouts Top $2.5 Billion
There have been nearly 17,000 reported victims
Add another $10 million to the $2.5 billion that the Catholic Church in the USA has spent in confronting the clergy sex abuse crisis.
The settlement announced in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Tuesday notched up their tally to nearly $700 million in settlements to victims alone, not even adding in the costs of therapy, attorneys' fees and more. Four men abused a quarter century ago by a now-defrocked priest will divide $10 million, the archdiocese said.
In 2007, the archdiocese, the nation's largest, announced more than $660 million in settlements to 508 victims.That far surpassed the $84 million settlement record then held by Boston, epicenter of the scandal that exploded in the U.S. church in 2002.
