Fresno Catholic Diocese part of $24 million payout to California sexual abuse victims
An independent committee has awarded almost $24 million to California victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, including 11 who were abused in the region overseen by the Diocese of Fresno, officials said Thursday.
The 11 victims in the Fresno area accepted a combined settlement of $1,025,000 from the participating dioceses, according to a spokesperson for the Independent Oversight Committee, whose members include former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former California Gov. Gray Davis and business leader Maria Contreras-Sweet.
The Independent Compensation Program for Victims of Sexual Abuse by Diocesan Priests in California was launched in September 2019 to provide survivors of childhood sexual abuse the opportunity to seek a “non-adversarial resolution,” according to a news release.
“It was particularly important that we offered a program that provided victims (and) survivors of sexual abuse with a viable non-adversarial and confidential alternative to a long and protracted litigation process,” Panetta said in the news release.
A total of 197 people who were minors when they were abused by a priest were paid out through the program. A total of 580 claims were considered settled, according to the committee.
There were 929 newly registered people who signed up at the program’s website, according to the news release.
“I am pleased the ICP was committed to a process that treated all victims (and) survivors, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, with dignity and compassion,” Contreras-Sweet said in the news release. “It was particularly important that the ICP process offered victims (and) survivors some sense of justice and validation for the inexcusable trauma they endured.”
Members of the independent committee heard the claims from the survivors, decided who was eligible and defined the amount of money to be paid out based on multiple factors, according to the spokesperson.
The six participating dioceses were Fresno, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Those districts cover more than 10 million Catholics.
The Diocese of Fresno oversees 87 parishes in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern, Inyo, Madera, Merced, and Mariposa counties. The diocese serves an estimated 1.2 million Catholics.
The dioceses were not allowed to overrule the decisions of the committee. The survivors were kept confidential and did not need an attorney, but could be represented by one without charge, according to the news release.
“We understood some victims (and) survivors would only come forward if they could maintain their privacy,” Davis said in the news release. “Unfortunately, without a guarantee of privacy, some victims (and) survivors would not have come forward and would not have a remedy.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 4:30 PM.
