Chicago Catholic Church Settles Some Abuse Claims

The financial hemorrhaging of the Roman Catholic Church continues, this time its the Archdiocese of Chicago making settlement payments in sexual abuse cases field by victims of pedophile priests. Meanwhile, of course, the corrupt hierarchy acts as if the abusive priests were the only ones responsible for the scandal as bishops and cardinals who covered up the abuse and/or knowingly transferred predator priests to unsuspecting parishes continue to live like the privileged and wealthy with members of the laity fawning over them and kissing their hypocritical asses. The Church's only sorrow is over having been caught - they could careless about the victims of abuse. Here are some highlights from Reuters:

*

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago's Roman Catholic archdiocese announced on Tuesday it will pay $12.7 million to settle 16 claims of sexual abuse involving 10 former priests and a school principal. U.S. Catholic archdioceses have paid nearly $2 billion to satisfy hundreds of abuse claims since the scandal broke in Boston in 1992. Some abusive priests were found to have been shielded by church leaders.

*

"My hope is that these settlements will help the survivors and their families begin to heal and move forward," Chicago Cardinal Francis George, head of the second-largest U.S. archdiocese, said in a statement. Victims' lawyer Jeffrey Anderson said "the release of his (George's) deposition today is a significant step toward openness and transparency and helps the survivors and the church community in healing and recovery."

*

Some of the cases in Tuesday's settlement date to the 1960s, he said. Two of the 10 Chicago-area priests named in Tuesday's settlement have died and two others are in prison, including Daniel McCormack who abused children as recently as 2006.