Canadian Catholic Priests Pay 20 Million To Settle Sexual Abuse Case

Started by stromboli, August 14, 2014, 06:45:21 PM

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stromboli

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/08/13/canadian-order-of-catholic-priests-will-have-to-pay-20000000-to-victims-of-sexual-abuse/

QuoteThe Redemptorists are Catholic priests who are part of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In Canada, they reside in Quebec, associated with the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré shrine

And yesterday, after losing a long-standing class action lawsuit for child abuse last month, they agreed to pay a monster fine of $20,000,000:
In a deal announced on Tuesday, the order approved settling a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of abuse victims at the school during a 27-year span beginning in 1960. The students, all boys, were aged 12 to 16 at the time.
“This is a landmark case,” said Robert Kugler, a Montreal lawyer who represents the victims. “This is the highest amount that has ever been paid by a religious congregation in Quebec to settle a class action dealing with sexual abuse.”
…
Quebec Superior Court held the religious order responsible in a ruling in July. The court decision recounts a harrowing catalogue of abuse carried out by the Redemptorist priests against young boys entrusted to their care, from sexual touching to sodomy.
Each of the 70 victims involved in the lawsuit will receive between $75,000-$150,000. And, thankfully, it may bankrupt the Redemptorist order in the area.
No amount of money makes up for what those kids went through, of course, but it’s always good to see some semblance of justice done.

This is about the 10th example of this type of abuse I have posted on here in the last year or so. I just wonder at what point our boy Catholic Crusader, or for that matter any Catholic, get the message that the whole institution of Catholicism is rotten to the core. In several countries over a period of decades, and who knows how long before that. This type of behavior cannot exist without the tacit approval of leadership higher up. There is no oversight that finds this and removes it. It is allowed to exist and continue. This is not cognitive dissonance. This is willful ignorance.

SGOS

Quote“This is a landmark case,” said Robert Kugler, a Montreal lawyer who represents the victims. “This is the highest amount that has ever been paid by a religious congregation in Quebec to settle a class action dealing with sexual abuse.”
I suppose the settlement is OK, but I keep wondering what penalties the law provides.  Surely, you don't rape a kid, and then just pay him some money.  Usually, you go to jail.  At some point, when a crime is committed, the case leaves the hands of the victims and the criminals, and the disposition of the case is determined by laws and proscribed punishments, not by agreements between the perpetrators and the victims.  But maybe I need a lawyer to explain this to me, because the law has always had a mysterious aspect about it that eludes me.

stromboli

I'm pretty sure the vatican can cough up some serious legal talent. Simply winning a decison vs years of battling and the pain involved might lead to a quicker conclusion, though not what I would call the correct one.

Solitary

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.