{"id":40534,"date":"2022-05-18T19:32:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T01:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/121-5m-settlement-in-new-mexico-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal\/"},"modified":"2022-05-19T01:32:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T01:32:24","slug":"121-5m-settlement-in-new-mexico-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/121-5m-settlement-in-new-mexico-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"$121.5M settlement in New Mexico clergy sex abuse scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Archbishop
Archbishop John C. Wester, head of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, tells reporters on Nov. 29, 2018, the diocese will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as clergy sex abuse claims have depleted its reserves. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, one of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States, announced a settlement agreement Tuesday to resolve the bankruptcy case. \u201cThe church takes very seriously its responsibility to see the survivors of sexual abuse are justly compensated for the suffering they have endured,\u201d Wester said in a statement. (Susan Montoya Bryan\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Susan Montoya Bryan<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SANTA FE \u2013 One of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States announced a settlement agreement Tuesday to resolve a bankruptcy case in New Mexico that resulted from a clergy sex abuse scandal.<\/p>\n

The tentative deal totals $121.5 million and would involve about 375 claimants.<\/p>\n

The proposed settlement comes as the Catholic Church continues to wrestle with a sex abuse and cover-up scandal that has spanned the globe. Some of the allegations in New Mexico date back decades.<\/p>\n

The chairman of a creditors committee that negotiated the agreement on behalf of the surviving victims and others said it would hold the Archdiocese of Santa Fe accountable for the abuse and result in one of the largest diocese contributions to a bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

It also includes a non-monetary agreement with the Archdiocese to create a public archive of documents regarding the history of the sexual abuse claims, committee chairman Charles Paez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tenacity and courage of New Mexico survivors empowered us to reach a recommended settlement that addresses the needs of the survivors on a timely basis,\u201d he said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case seeking protection from creditors in 2018.<\/p>\n

The settlement still must be approved by the abuse victims. It includes money from sales or property and other assets, contributions from parishes and insurance proceeds. It does not include settlement of any claims against any religious orders, lawyers for both sides said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church takes very seriously its responsibility to see the survivors of sexual abuse are justly compensated for the suffering they have endured,\u201d John C. Wester, archbishop of Santa Fe, said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our hope that this settlement is the next step in the healing of those who have been harmed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, about 74 priests have been deemed \u201ccredibly accused\u201d of sexually assaulting children while assigned to parishes and schools by the Archdiocese, which covers central and northern New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Established in the 1850s after the Mexican-American War, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed for reorganization in late 2018 to deal with a surge of claims. An estimated $52 million has been paid in out-of-court settlements to victims in previous years.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of money can undo the pain and trauma that our clients and their families have suffered,\u201d Dan Fasy, a lawyer who represented some of the victims, said Tuesday. \u201cBut we hope this settlement can bring some form of closure and healing to the abuse survivors we were privileged to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archbishop John C. Wester, head of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, tells reporters on Nov. 29, 2018, the diocese will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as clergy sex abuse claims have depleted its reserves. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, one of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States, announced a settlement agreement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40534"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}