Many Bitter After $660 Million Catholic Priest Settlement

The recent $660 million settlement in the Catholic Priest sexual abuse scandal in Southern California has left some vindicated and others outraged. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles led by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony settled the case days before Mahony would have had to testify at trial.

The settlement, the largest ever for a case of this type, covered 508 plaintiffs who were sexually abused by Catholic clergy. By many accounts, Mahony himself was able to escape further criminal and civil charges with the settlement even though he was negligent in reporting incident of sexual abuse and child rape to police authorities and chose instead to reassign priests to different locations.