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Time - Man of the Year
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 22SOCIETYSettling a Scandal
As Catholic bishops promise action on child abuse, 68 cases
are closed
According to Jason Berry's astonishing, disheartening new
account, Lead Us Not into Temptation (Doubleday), 400 U.S. and
Canadian Catholic clerics have been accused of child
molestation, costing the church roughly $400 million in damage
payments and other expenses. Now one of the biggest cases is
over. The Fall River, Massachusetts, diocese reached an
out-of-court settlement with 68 persons who said they were
abused in the 1960s by Father James Porter and accused the
diocese of ignoring his misdeeds. The accusers, who agreed not
to disclose the financial terms, were sober in victory. Cash
"is not a medicine. It won't make any one of us healthy," said
Peter Calderone. Porter, now married, out of the priesthood and
living in Minnesota, faces sex charges there and in
Massachusetts. Last month the sluggish U.S. Catholic bishops
made their first joint response after years of scandals,
pledging prompt action on charges, removal of miscreants and
care for victims.