A billion dollars?

That shocking number is not a mistake, and that' s about the final cost of the LA archdiocese's massive settlement with almost 600 victims of sexual abuse by clergy, religious, and other church workers that was announced over the weekend and approved today. You can read the LA Times coverage here. The $1 billion is the combination of a previous $114 paid to 86 victims, a December settlement of $60 million of 45 victims, and today $660 million whopper to 508 victims. Add legal fees and incidentals, and that's about a billion dollars.

What is amazing to me is the lack of outrage on the part of LA Catholics. The cash settlement alone--$250 million in archdiocesan assets--is a tremendous burden for the people of God in LA to bear. And let us not forget, that money and property didn't just fall out of heaven. It was given to the church leadership in trust, and because of the failures of that leadership that exposed the church to liability, it is now being liquidated. That's a tragedy that demands redress, and we have yet to see the kind of reform that will bring the transparency and accountability that Catholics deserve.