TRANSCRIPT
A New Mexico archdiocese is paying out more than $120 million to sex abuse victims.
Church Militant’s William Mahoney observes how Catholics in the pews are seeing their patrimony evaporate to pay for it.
The archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is agreeing to pay $121.5 million to 375 sex abuse victims. In Tuesday’s statement, homosexualist archbishop John Wester comments, “The Church takes very seriously its responsibility to see the survivors of sexual abuse are justly compensated for the suffering they have endured.”
He further notes, “The settlement will be funded by the archdiocese, the parishes within the archdiocese, other Catholic entities and the archdiocese’s insurance carriers.”
In February, the archdiocese attempted to keep insurance payouts secret, but a judge denied the request. Since then, the archdiocese has been selling off property, including Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat Center, which was previously a seminary.
Santa Fe declared bankruptcy in 2019, joining the other 27 dioceses throughout the United States and its territories. This latest settlement raises the clerical-abuse-victim payouts nationwide to an estimated $1.417 billion.
Alongside dioceses, religious orders have also paid for sex abuse — more than $166 million from the Jesuits, more than $16 million from the Christian Brothers and more than $25 million from the Crosier Fathers.
The John Jay Report, commissioned by the bishops, detailed how more than 80% of clerical sex abuse claims stem from homosexual incidents. But despite the settlements and claims to the contrary, U.S. Catholic bishops have been doing little to shield vulnerable people from predator clerics.
Wester is the episcopal moderator for the AUSCP, a group of heterodox Catholics who are pushing for the Church to change Her moral teachings.