The unholy burden of the church – From rampant sexual abuse to hush money agreements

Year after year, we come across news stories that don’t go viral about the hush money the church pays to victims of sexual abuse around the world. Whether children, nuns, or other members, the church is a hotspot for sexual abuse. There is no denying this truth. In 2023, we produced a report on the number of cases where this has happened over the years.

France’s independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation reported in March 2024 that hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests or church officials have received financial compensation under a comprehensive reparations program launched in 2022. As of 2022, 1,351 victims came forward, of whom 489 were granted compensation, including 88 who were awarded the maximum amount of 60,000 euros ($65,000). The authority offers not only financial reparations, but also non-financial support, such as assistance in writing victim statements, arranging meetings with church officials, and helping to repair relationships damaged by the abuse. The program aims to address the systematic cover-up of child sexual abuse within the French Catholic Church, which affected an estimated 330,000 children over 70 years.

Here is a summary of this report.

1) May 11: In July 1979, Father Foster P. Rogers molested a 15-year-old victim in his car. Rogers, a member of the Catholic Church in New York, reached a settlement with the victim for $100 million in compensation. Another settlement in May of that year was reached by the Orleans Catholic Church, which paid $1 million to the victims, ages 10 to 12. In this case, the victim was the child of a family friend of the defendant, Padre Wheeler. In exchange for not taking his case to trial, Wheeler agreed to spend five years on probation, avoid contact with the victim, and register as a sex offender for 15 years.

2) May 3: The Anglican Church of Tasmania reached an agreement with 16 victims of sexual abuse in May this year. A total of $6.5 million was paid in compensation. It is worth noting that one of the victims, aged between 11 and 15, was abused by three Anglican priests and a teacher.

3) March 25: The Roman Catholic Church of Rochester paid $7.6 million in March of this year. The priests are accused of abusing 400 victims.

4) August 2022: On August 4, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg paid a $12.7 million settlement to the 111 victims sexually abused by the padres. The agreement was made as part of the diocese’s independent survivor compensation program.

5) July 2022: Two settlements were reached in July last year. On July 7, the Roman Catholic Church of New York paid $1 million in compensation to two of Padre Mark Haight’s 400 victims. It is reported that despite knowing that Haight had abused many boys for decades, he was repeatedly transferred instead of reporting him to the police.

On July 5, the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland paid £2.25 million in compensation to a boy who was abused while attending a Scottish boarding school in the 1970s. The victim was aged 14 to 16 when the “spiritual” head of the Scottish seminary abused him in his dormitory bed two to three times a month.

6) September 2018: The Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn paid $27.5 million on September 18, 2018, for sexual abuse by its religious teachers. Four victims were sexually abused during an after-school program in Brooklyn between 2003 and 2009, when they were between 8 and 12 years old.

7) May 2007: On May 19, 2007, the youth minister of the Roman Catholic Church of Long Island paid $11.45 million in hush money to victims who were repeatedly raped as teenagers in the 1990s. He was ordered to pay one woman, who were his teenage victims, $250,000 annually for 12 years and one man, $115,000 annually for 30 years.

These are just a few of the countless cases that never made the news. This was in 2023.

In 2024, we could only find a few of the news stories shown below.

In February 2024, a court in Tasmania ordered the Anglican Church to pay $2.4 million in damages to John Steen, a victim of child sexual abuse by paedophile priest Louis Victor Daniels in the 1980s. Despite Steen’s efforts to seek justice, the church covered up the abuse, arranged a confidential settlement and misrepresented the situation. The court found that the church’s response exacerbated the impact on Steen and placed protecting its reputation above the welfare of victims. This significant ruling sets a precedent for holding institutions to account for their failure to tackle child sexual abuse and could pave the way for justice for other victims.

In April 2024, the Portuguese Catholic Church announced it would financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse by clergy, with the amount of compensation determined on a case-by-case basis. This approach drew criticism from survivors groups, who argued that all victims should receive the same compensation and that the Church should proactively approach victims rather than wait for them to demand compensation. The decision came after a report revealed that clergy had sexually abused at least 4,815 minors over seven decades.

The horrifying reality of widespread child sexual abuse in Christian institutions has been brought to light by recent investigations. In Portugal, an independent commission’s report found that over 4,800 minors were sexually abused by Catholic Church clergy over 70 years. This shocking revelation is likely just the tip of the iceberg, as a Vatican insider estimates that up to one million children may have been victims of sexual abuse in Italy over seven decades.

Despite overwhelming evidence, the Catholic Church has consistently used its immense wealth and influence to silence victims and protect perpetrators from justice. This systematic cover-up and lack of accountability has allowed these heinous crimes to continue unchecked. Countless children have been traumatized and scarred for life.