Catholic Church in Newfoundland must pay 104 million dollars to victims of abuse

[blackbird]

"  ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -

 The Roman Catholic Church has been ordered to pay settlements totalling $104 million to 292 survivors of historical abuse in Newfoundland and Labrador, including those at the now infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John's.

The decision Friday was met with relief, hurt and even grief by survivors who've endured a decades-long fight for justice, said lawyer Geoff Budden. His firm represents more than 200 survivors of abuse at the former Mount Cashel orphanage from the 1940s to the early 1960s.

"Some get validation from this," he said in an interview. "They are happy that they were believed, that their claims were accepted and they're going to receive compensation ... but it triggers. It brings back memories, and it's a struggle."

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And the fight is not over, he said: the church doesn't have enough money to pay the settlements.

The totals published Friday include claims from Mount Cashel and other abuse cases involving the church over the past few decades, Budden said.

So far, 292 abuse claims have been accepted, the court document said. Ten more are pending, and 65 were disallowed. The average entitlement is about $356,000, but they range from $55,000 to $850,000.

It was the Mount Cashel case that allowed these settlements to happen. Through a winding series of court cases that began in 1999, Budden and his team successfully argued that the church was liable for physical and sexual abuse suffered by the boys at Mount Cashel at the hands of the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic lay order that ran the facility.

The liability was cemented in 2021, when the Supreme Court of Canada refused a bid by the Roman Catholic archdiocese in St. John to appeal a lower court decision.

The orphanage was closed in 1990 and demolished in 1992. The horrors that happened inside its walls precipitated a massive cultural shift away from the authority of the church in Newfoundland and Labrador.

After the Mount Cashel case established that the church could be held responsible for the actions of its members, lawyers could make the same argument in other abuse cases involving the church, Budden said.

Nine of Budden's clients from the original Mount Cashel file died waiting for a resolution, he said. The claims included in Friday's sum involved estates of roughly 30 people who were involved in court cases and died waiting for a settlement, he added.

The archdiocese only has about $45 million on hand to pay these settlements. The cash was raised during ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, when it sold off properties in eastern Newfoundland, including the famed Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's."

Newfoundland church ordered to pay abuse victims | CTV News

It seems kind of odd that the archiocese has 45 million dollars on hand to pay these settlements but the Vatican, which has billions of dollars, is not being asked to contribute.

The book The Vatican Billions by Avro Manhattan describes the billions of dollars which the Vatican has accumulated over the centuries.  They own real estate in countless places.

104 million dollars would be peanuts to the Vatican.  Since the Vatican controls the church, one must wonder why they are not the main contributors to the settlements.

Unbelievably, this book must be extremely rare as it is priced at $250 on Amazon.  However, the good news is it can be read for free on the internet at the archive.org website.

The Vatican Billions : Two thousand years of wealth accumulation from Caesar to the Space Age , Avro Manhattan (1983), fullbook

by Avro Manhattan

The Vatican Billions : Two thousand years of wealth accumulation from Caesar to the Space Age , Avro Manhattan (1983), fullbook : Avro Manhattan : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

At least the federal government has not put a tax on this website yet or blocked it.  So now is the time to read some of it.  Anyone who reads part of it will wonder why the Vatican escapes any responsibility to pay toward the settlement of these cases since they are probably the most wealthy organization in the world if you count their real estate, etc.

[blackbird]

The book The Vatican Billions starts off:

"Christ was born, lived and died in poverty. His church, is a multi-, multi-, multi-billion concern. How come that although she claims to be preoccupied with the riches of heaven, she is in reality one of the most formidable accumulators of the riches of the earth?

When did it all begin? Where? How? What was the Church’s economic empire in the past? One thousand, five hundred or one hundred years ago? How vast is it now? Is it true that it is the most powerful financial entity of all times? If so, how many thousand millions does it handle? How much real estate? How much stock, trusts and bonds? How many shares in oil, motors, automation, electronics, hotels, air lines, chemicals, engineering and space corporations? Is it true that she has vast deposits of gold in Swiss, American and other banks? That she has more dollar assets than the most power¬ ful corporations of the U. S. A., larger monetary reserves than France, Belgium, Italy and Great Britain put together? That by the end of the present century she will control at least onethird of the total wealth of Europe and America?

What are her tangible and intangible financial funds in most of the major countries of the world? Such questions have never been answered before. This book answers them."

The Vatican Billions : Two thousand years of wealth accumulation from Caesar to the Space Age , Avro Manhattan (1983), fullbook : Avro Manhattan : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Yet they have nothing to contribute as far as I know to settling the child abuse cases in Nfld.

[herbie]

They're coming to get you, Blackbird. They're gonna get you!

[CdnFox]

Sounds like some real villains were caught and the church is being held accountable as it should. This is how it should go.

[blackbird]

How many years since the abuse in the 1940s to the 1960s has this dragged on and the Catholic church has fought against it tooth and nail?  Many have since passed away and will never see a settlement or compensation.  I guess the strategy is to keep it dragging on unsettled as long as possible until all the victims are deceased.  What victims remain must be getting very old by now.

[ExFlyer]

19 hours ago, blackbird said:

How many years since the abuse in the 1940s to the 1960s has this dragged on and the Catholic church has fought against it tooth and nail?  Many have since passed away and will never see a settlement or compensation.  I guess the strategy is to keep it dragging on unsettled as long as possible until all the victims are deceased.  What victims remain must be getting very old by now.

You can say that about all child abusers.

School boards have done the same thing for abusive teachers for as long as the church.

Sporting associations have done the same for coaches that abuse their athletes.

Your anti catholic view just does not see that abuse is everywhere and society has protected abusers from day one.

Oh and it began long before the 1940's

Edited July 8, 2024 by ExFlyer

[blackbird]

21 hours ago, ExFlyer said:

Your anti catholic view just does not see that abuse is everywhere and society has protected abusers from day one.

Nice try at diversion but nobody will swallow it unless they are very naive.

The topic is the news about the 104 million dollar settlement for the 292 abuse survivors of the Mt. Cashel orphanage in the Catholic church in Nfld.  The Catholic church has a history of widespread abuse.  This is important because a large percentage of the population belongs to the RCC including a large percentage of our leaders in Canada.  What we should be asking why it took so many decades for this case in Nfld. to be settled and to get to this point.  That is not justice. 

The answer is described on Wikipedia.  A major coverup by the constabulary and the justice system went on for a least half a century.

The Nfld. and Canada/s government and justice systems get a failing grade.  How much of the justice system and authorities have been impeding or delaying justice? The victims have waited almost a lifetime to see some justice and it still has not been finalized and completed.

Sexual abuse is not the only issue.  The book The Vatican Billions reveals is has accumulated billions of dollars in wealth in the past 2,000 years through questionable means.   They have exploited people's fear and used religion to maximum advantage to gain wealth.

We need to remember the church is supposed to be a beacon and a strong defender of what is right and reject what is wrong.   Something you seem to know nothing about.

 

Edited July 9, 2024 by blackbird

[blackbird]

This information on Wikipedia helps explain why it took about half a century for this to come to the court cases in 1999.

"The Mount Cashel Orphanage, known locally as the Mount Cashel Boys' Home, was a boys' orphanage located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The orphanage was operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, and became infamous for a sexual abuse scandal and cover-up by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and NL justice officials.^[1

Mount Cashel Orphanage - Wikipedia

 

Edited July 9, 2024 by blackbird