First scenario: Say you have 15 incidents, all of which are settled.
- Say that an out-of-court settlement is $80,000 per incident.
- Say that you settle all incidents regardless of the facts.
- Say that you pay no attorney’s fees, since the settlements are immediate, you don’t alert the priest, and don’t even listen to the allegations, but simply pay a total of $1,200,000.
Second scenario: Say you have 15 more incidents, all of which are litigated.
- Say that a successfully litigated claim is rewarded $1,200,000.
- For the sake of argument, say that 14 defendants are acquitted.
- Say that the remaining defendant pleads guilty, no contest, does a plea bargain, or is convicted despite pleas of innocence, meaning you now pay out $1,200,000, so that, including an average of $80,000 for each of the 15 cases’ attorneys’ fees ($1,200,000), you’ve now paid out $2,400,000, though you only lost one case… exactly twice as much as immediate settlements for all 15.
Of course, in real life, you’ll probably lose 2/3 cases, meaning, including attorneys fees for all, $13,200,000.
Compare: $1,200,000 in blanket settlements and $13,200,000 in litigated claims in a real world scenario (excluding, unrealistically, that there usually more than one “incident” per case).
If you don’t give a damn about five innocent priests being condemned to loss of priesthood and likely imprisonment, what would you choose to pay out, not forgetting that you get a more genteel treatment with the press if you go for blanket settlements instead of litigation?
Isn’t it the policy of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc., to go for immediate settlements, thinking that it is better for many innocent men be treated as criminals than to lose… what?… perhaps the chancellorship of Wales, you know, just south-west of Manchester?
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
This pair of scenarios looks pretty bleak. Either the Church can go bankrupt defending the innocent priests against liars who just want money, or they can possibly avoid bankruptcy by sacrificing innocent priests and throwing a bit of money at the con artists. But then avoiding bankruptcy is a moot point if we no longer have priests! So now tell me, what can we ordinary folks do besides pray?? Is there a battle plan being drawn up yet that would include us in some small way?
I’m working on something. I hope I can write about this by tomorrow. Yikes!
I ventured to google and I found that my diocese seems to use National Catholic Risk Retention Group (at least they use Virtus and NCRRG is mentioned in that context on the diocesan website; I seem to remember having heard people locally complain about the content of Virtus that they experienced). There were 19 settlements involving 4 priests and $1.6 million, under the previous bishop, 10 years ago, but I do not find anything about it that makes me suspect injustice was done. My current bishop is truly very good. Still I wish my bishop were aware of some of what you have said and reasons for caution. Janet’s comment is good. I also can really imagine what you are daring to write must be upsetting some people. May the Holy Spirit give you His wisdom. I went to two Masses, the second was my good Bishop, the first was a very trad priest who credibly mentioned having been kicked out of more than one diocese for his presentation of the Faith (perhaps for instance the way he presents “extra ecclesiam nulla salus”) emphasized fear of God as freeing us from concern for “human respect” and this was also the tone of his explanation of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. Veni sancte spiritus… da tuis fidelibus, in te confidentibus, sacrum septenarium.
It could be that all were guilty. This is not always the case. Forcing plea-bargains from those who are innocent is common. Closing a settlement with no input from the priest is also common.
I agree with you raising the concerns, what I have been pondering is whether I should somehow draw it to my bishop’s attention because they use NCRRG.
that’s what the post is to be about!
It’s just that if there are blanket settlements, innocent priest can get thown into the mix. Collateral damage. We’ll see how it all works out. We will see exactly how things stand at the last judgment, of course. Yikes!