Priests: To Pay Or Not To Pay?

By Amanda Bower

Boston parishioners' search for justice took one step forward and one big step back last week. In California authorities arrested Father Paul Shanley, 71, the notorious advocate of sex between men and boys, after his alleged victim told police about abuse he says occurred in Massachusetts between 1983 and 1989. Authorities were able to overcome the state's 10-year statute of limitations fairly simply: the clock for the 10-year period does not start ticking until the victim turns 16. The former catechism student is now 24. The scandal may have loosened these time restrictions; in Connecticut on the day of Shanley's arrest, the state house approved a bill that would extend its statute of limitations for child sexual abuse to 30 years after the victim turns 18--up from two years.

The setback for victims came on Friday when the Boston Archdiocese rejected a $20 million to $30 million settlement it had reached in March with victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan. Courts had not yet approved the deal, which would have awarded 86 victims up to $300,000 each. This marked the first time the archdiocese's finance council had gone against the professed wishes of Bernard Cardinal Law. Even if the plaintiffs go on to sue and win in civil court, Massachusetts law restricts the maximum payout from a nonprofit organization to $20,000 per victim. If the archdiocese had stuck with the settlement, the councilors said, it would have been unable to provide for other victims--including possibly Shanley's, who have begun filing their own civil suits. --By Amanda Bower. With reporting by Matt Kelly/Boston

With reporting by Matt Kelly/Boston