Archdiocese to Pay $230M to Clergy Abuse Victims

The New Orleans Archdiocese will pay at least $230 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement approved Monday by a federal judge that follows years of negotiations. Richard Trahant, an attorney for victims in the case, and a spokesperson for the archdiocese confirmed approval of the settlement to the AP by US Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill. Archbishop Gregory Aymond listened to survivors' court testimony last week. "I also apologize for the church, that I'm embarrassed by what has happened in the church," he told reporters afterward. The developments:

• Bankruptcy: The archdiocese had filed for bankruptcy rather than handle each of the more than 500 abuse claims separately. Survivors noted that doing so enabled church leaders to avoid tougher questions they would have to face in court.

• Testimony: Survivors said they are still affected decades later by the painful memories they shared publicly. Some recalled battling substance abuse, struggling with intimacy, and wondering whether they themselves were to blame for what happened. Some said they forgave the church, while others could not. Kathleen Austin recalled being abused hundreds of times as a child and watching the perpetrator continue in a role in the church even after its leadership knew what he was doing. She expressed skepticism that the church would hold clergy accountable in the future given how much she said it resisted responding to her experiences. Chris Naquin testified that his abuse began when he was 4 years old and that he cycled through decades of mental institutions and prisons. "I don't think I will ever, ever get over it. There's no amount of money in the world," Naquin said as he teared up. Billy Cheramie, who said he felt he died the day he was abused as a little boy, told the archdiocese he forgave it for what he went through. He said God later helped him realize the abuse he suffered was not his fault, thus allowing him to release some of the anger that had propelled him to join the US military to learn how to kill. "Killing did not fix the pain and the memories," he said. Neil Duhon testified that he still struggles with forgiveness. "This legal thing will maybe end but what it has done to us, the trauma it has done to us, will not ever end," Duhon told the court.

• Changes: The finalized settlement plan, which received overwhelming approval on a vote by survivors, includes policies intended to prevent abuse from occurring in the future. A survivor will have a seat on the archdiocese's internal review board that handles claims of sexual abuse. An outside expert is to monitor the church's child abuse prevention practices. The church also is adopting a survivors' bill of rights, and survivors will have a direct line of communication to the archbishop to direct complaints of misconduct. And a public archive will be established to share long withheld documents related to abuse claims.
• The archbishop: Aymond, 75, had long resisted calls to resign from survivors who said the archdiocese did not take action against credibly accused perpetrators. The accusations of clergy abuse triggered a sweeping FBI probe and a cascading crisis for the Catholic Church, which drew on help from New Orleans Saints executives to help behind the scenes with damage control, an AP investigation revealed. Aymond is handing diocese leadership to a successor at his retirement.