If you want to know why Catholic Churches and schools are closing throughout the United States, look no further than this number released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: $2.9 billion.
With a B.
That is the dollar amount that the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has cost since 2004. It’s an insurmountable number, and it continues to drain the resources of the religion..
From the CATHOLIC CULTURE story filed today:
Only 59% of those funds were allotted to settlements ($62.9 million) and therapy for abuse victims ($7.7 million). The remaining funds were spent on attorneys’ fees ($28.8 million), support for offenders ($15.4 million), and other costs ($4.2 million), according to the 2014 “Report on the Implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.”
These expenses brought the total cost of the clerical abuse scandal to American dioceses and religious institutes between 2004 and mid-2014 to $2,895,629,230, according to the data in the current report and previous reports.
The report added that dioceses, eparchies, and religious orders spent an additional $31,667,740 for child protection efforts in 2013-14.
65% of accused diocesan clergy “had already been identified in prior allegations,” and 75% “were deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing.”
75% of those who alleged abuse by diocesan clergy and 87% of those who alleged abuse by religious-order clergy were male, and abuse typically took place between the ages of 10 and 14. Most of the allegations involved incidents that took place between 1960 and 1989, particularly the 1970s.