Diocese to settle abuse claims for $6.5 million

MANCHESTER, N.H. — The embattled Catholic Diocese of Manchester, N.H., has agreed to settle sexual abuse cases filed by 61 people in a $6.5 million agreement.

Diocesan officials said the money would be covered mostly by insurance and stressed that church offerings or the sale of property will not be used to foot the bill, according to The New York Times.

Last December, the diocese was the first in the nation to settle a criminal case with state prosecutors. The pact avoided criminal charges but acknowledged “failures in our system that contributed to the endangerment of children.”

The 61 victims, most of whom filed the cases after the abuse scandal erupted in the neighboring Archdiocese of Boston last year, will be paid between $20,000 and $455,000, depending on the severity of abuse. The payments will be dispersed starting in December.

To date, the diocese has paid more than $15 million to settle 176 cases of abuse, according to The Times. The church depleted its $2.2 million reserve fund in the process and now needs to cut its 2003 budget of $2.5 million by $500,000.