"U.S. Catholic Church Spends $5 billion On 16,276 Clergy Sex Abuse Allegations In 20 Years"

"The U.S. Catholic Church spent over $5 billion on victim compensation and attorneys’ fees in cases of clerical sex abuse of minors between 2004 and 2023, according to a new report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

Released on January 15, the 106-page study records a total of 16,276 'credible allegations' of abuse of minors by priests, deacons, and religious brothers, which were reported by dioceses, eparchies, and men’s religious communities in the U.S. over the last two decades.

Four in five victims were male and one-fifth of the victims were female, the survey recorded, confirming reports by The Stream and other experts of a 'lavender mafia' dominating the Latin-rite Roman Catholic priesthood.

More than half the victims were between ages 10 and 14 (56%) at the time the abuse occurred or began, with 24% ages 15 to 17 and 20% ages nine and younger.

The report estimated the number of perpetrators to be 4,490, with a combined 95% of all alleged perpetrators being priests, either diocesan (80%) or religious (15%). Four percent are religious brothers and 1% are deacons (diocesan or religious).

However, if religious brothers had been included on the survey prior to 2014, the number of them who were alleged perpetrators likely would have been larger, the report clarified.

Dioceses, eparchies, and men’s religious communities spent a grand total of $5,025,346,893 over 20 years on clergy sex abuse claims. Three-fourths of the sum was paid as settlements to victims (71%) and other payments to victims (4%).

The other major category of costs paid out was attorneys’ fees (17%), which make up one-sixth of the above costs. Six percent of costs were support for the clergy offenders, and 2% were for all other unspecified costs.

The money also include a whopping $727,994,390 spent over 20 years on abuse prevention efforts to protect children and youth. The U.S. Catholic Church now spends an average of $36,399,720 every year to protect minors from predatory priests and religious brothers, the study reported.

Over the 20 years of the survey, insurance companies bore only 16% of the total costs in clergy abuse claims occurring in dioceses and eparchies, and a mere 10% of the total costs for abuse allegations in religious communities of men.

Dioceses and religious orders were forced to bear the remaining 84% of the costs, resulting in bishops selling churches, reorganizing parishes, and filing for bankruptcies, with several dioceses explicitly citing the settlements as a reason to declare bankruptcy."