Archdiocese of New Orleans Proposes Sexual Abuse ‘Point System’ as Part of Its Bankruptcy Settlement

Documents filed recently in the New Orleans Roman Catholic archdiocese’s five-year bankruptcy case provide more clarity on how claims will be doled out to victims of clergy abuse if a proposed settlement is approved. Points will be assigned to each abuse claim based on the severity of the abuse and its effects on each victim’s life, but the records do not offer much clarity on how much actual money those points will be worth.

Claims that a Catholic church employee raped them will be worth twice as much money to abuse survivors as having a priest masturbate in front of them, four times more than if a cleric touched them under their clothes and seven times more than being shown pornography, according to details from a settlement disclosure statement filed and amended recently.

Coming up in October, hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy will get to vote to approve or reject a settlement with the US’s second-oldest archdiocese, worth between $180m and $235m.

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