July 14, 2007

There have been some big settlements so far, but the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s agreement to pay $600 million to abuse victims, according to the AP, trumps them all.

Attorneys for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs are expected to announce the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public.

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs — an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said.

This settlement is five years in the making, and I can only hope it will be looked back upon as the moment the Catholic Church washed its hands of the sins of its fathers.

*Updated: The settlement is $60 larger than originally reported, according to the LA Times. “It’s been a long, hard slog,” church attorney J. Michael Hennigan told the paper. “I’m delighted to see it’s come to a conclusion.”

I have this uncomfortable feeling that I read this story in The Onion last month or remember it from some movie, but Faith Central says a Romanian paper is reporting that a man recently attempted to sue God for “fraud.” It seems he believed he entered into a contract with God to be freed from sin when he was baptized.  Here goes:

The Evenimuntul Zilei story is in Romanian, obviously, but so far our translation services reveal that Mircea Pavel (a convicted murderer)  brought charges against “the defendant God, who lives in the heavens and is represented in Romania by the Orthodox Church … At my christening, I made a deal with the defendant aimed at freeing me from evil. But the latter has not respected that agreement until now, although he received from me various assets and numerous prayers” Pavel wrote.

The court dismissed the case, ruling that “God is not subject to law and does not have an address.”

Really? This is what some Christians consider effective evangelism?

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Three protesters disrupted a prayer by a Hindu chaplain Thursday at the opening of a Senate hearing, calling it an abomination and shouting slogans about Jesus Christ.

It was the first time the daily prayer that opens Senate proceedings was said by a Hindu chaplain.

Capitol police said two women and one man were arrested and charged with causing a disruption in the public gallery of the Senate. The three started shouting when guest Chaplain Rajan Zed, a Hindu from Nevada, began his prayer.

They shouted “No Lord but Jesus Christ” and “There’s only one true God,” and used the term “abomination.”

Does anybody else notice parallels of language to that used by Islamic terrorists?