Ten years ago this week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed to pay $198.1 million to settle the lawsuits filed by Lynch and 143 other adults, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported yesterday. As children, each had been sexually assaulted by a priest or, in one case, a layman supervising altar boys. This was a landmark moment in one the largest scandals in the church's 2,000-year-old history. From Dublin to Manila, Boston to Portland, Ore., Catholic officials were hauled into court and forced to account for shielding predatory clerics, often for decades. The San Diego settlement was the nation’s second largest, trailing only the Los Angeles diocese’s $660 million. By at least one measurement, though, San Diego’s settlement was more significant. After !legal fees, the 508 victims in L.A. averaged a payout of $780,000. In San Diego, the average was $825,000. Absorbing these damages led the San Diego diocese to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the end, insurance paid $76 million and the Diocese of San Bernardino, which had part of this diocese, contributed almost $15 million. Selling properties and tapping its bank accounts, San Diego paid the remaining $107 million. Seven months after going to bankruptcy court, the diocese’s case was dismissed.
