Settling A Scandal

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.