clergy abuse

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Monday approved a $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse, the largest payout yet in a nationwide sex abuse scandal. link

accepting a settlement means there is no conviction, and I'm sure there are terms the victims must agree to before getting their own small share of the moneys (that is, after the lawyers get the big chunk of it first). what's the point? it's not like the Roman Catholic church doesn't have lots and lots of money, how is this going to make anything okay?
..."more than 500 victims"
..."nationwide sex abuse scandal"
and they agreed to settle? What the hell is wrong with these people????!!! (okay, besides having been sexually and spiritually abused)

"The plaintiffs' attorneys are expected to receive up to 40% of the settlement."
'nuff said. dirty rotten bastards, getting rich of other people's misery!

"The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren't covered by sexual abuse insurance."
Sexual abuse insurance??!! Does such a thing exist? Oh my.....


edit: Oh dear, I shouldn't have started reading the comments. How is it that people equate homosexuality with pedofilia, anyway??? There are some major flaws in that kind of logic... AAARRRGGHH!!
okay, breathe.
The important part here is not the settlement, well it sorta is... But the important thing to look at is how when we hand our power over to authorities (our right to make our own decisions, allowing them to make decisions for us), they can and often do abuse us. Not all authorities are abusive, but giving them the power to control us enables abuse against ourselves, our CHILDREN!! Apparently people still believe that the risk of abuse is preferable than having to accept responsibility for their own actions. When you hand over your autonomy to an authority, the responsibility then becomes theirs and you have someone to blame if things don't turn out right. okay, so the people choose to be controlled, they allow the Church to make decisions for them. The Church then pays hush money to those who have been greivously harmed, with money it took from those it harms! While those who abused their power [beyond the socially acceptable level of abuse] get off scott free. this is so fucked up, y'all