The settlements in Catholic sexual abuse lawsuits continue to take ones breath away. The newest one comes from the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego which, on Friday, settled for $198.1 million for 144 childhood sexual abuse victims.Of course, judges will come along and determine exactly what must be paid out in individual cases, and payments could be trimmed. As it stands now, each victim is in line for $1.2 million each. Lawyer fees will drop those totals quickly.Five years after the preying priest reports exploded as a national scandal, victims and their relentless advocacy groups continue to march to the doors of chanceries and courthouses and get hefty financial rewards, although rarely with celebration and fanfare. Catholics, in the parishes, have to wince at the dramatic financial hits, knowing liability insurance and treasuries cant fully accommodate the settlements. The closing of parishes and sell-off of properties like convents have been wide, especially in the Archdiocese of Boston, the earliest to settle — $84 million for 552 victims in 2003.Just weeks ago, the neighboring Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a whopping $660 million for about 500 people hurt by abuse. Years before the Diocese of Orange, Calif., sought to satisfy 90 abuse victims with a $100 million agreement. The numbers drop off from there: Oakland (Calif.) diocese $56 million for 56 people; Covington (Ky.) Diocese for $84 million for 350 people; and $22 million in neighboring Diocese of Tucson for more than 50 victims. Nationally, the settlements are totaling about $2.7 billion. The San Diego diocese had initially proposed just $95 million or about $600,000 per victim. Last February, the diocese had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it faced the allegations from about 50 men and women going back more than 35 years. It had been the largest diocese in the U.S. to try to seek bankruptcy protection. Under the agreement, the payments could come in two payments next year. The diocese had to agree to release its documents related to individual abuse cases. Victims want the public to know who exactly preyed on them and took away their innocence. Attorneys for the victims pressed hard for the diocese to pay up. Discussions were described as marathon by the San Diego Union Tribune. In the end, they got the diocese to pay twice as much as it had proposed and to withdraw its bankruptcy petition. One attorney for 33 victims, Irwin M. Zalkin, summarized things this way, for the Union Tribune: This has been a journey for some people, in some cases, 30, 40 years, who have suffered an immense harm that is difficult for anyone to comprehend. This is their day. This is their time. This is their vindication. This is their moment of truth.Who can imagine what those victims lived with for decades?: Enduring or suppressing the memories of the experiences of trauma, assaults, threats to never tell anyone, confusion at a time they were sexually immature. The sobs, the dread of each demanded new encounter, the shame, the lies they were told, the loss of trust in the church, the ways some were discredited or ignored by superiors they may have gone to for help and the years of blaming themselves.The newspaper interviewed Michael Bang, a 46-year-old Atlanta, Ga., man abused by a San Diego priest from 1971 to 1979. This has taken years to get here, and Im angry as hell that it took that long to get here. He was so eager to take his case to trial. He was ready with boxes and boxes of documents. Bang was conflicted by the settlement and said it still was not fair.Itll never be fair, he said. My life has been up and down. Its unconscionable. I mean this is supposed to be the church of God. Theyre supposed to be people that are looking out for the welfare and the goodness of the children of the church. And all theyre worried about is the bottom line.The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix took its own deserved beating and bore it own shame, mostly since 2001, for decades of priest sexual abuse and coverups, even misbehavior by its second leader, Bishop James Rausch, who died in 1981. Statistics commonly reported is that there have been about 50 priests since 1950 involved in credible cases of abuse, but only 19 formally charged or prosecuted. At least 73 known victims were identified and at least $2.7 million paid out in settlements.Compared to notably Tucson dioceses $22 million settlement, you might wonder how come the contrast? In Tucson, with 350,000 registered Catholics compared to more than 500,000 in Phoenix. Jim Dwyer, Phoenix diocesan spokesman, believes part of it was the diocese being among the earliest nationally to adopt policies and procedures. Starting in 1990 under Bishop Thomas OBrien, the diocese developed steps geared to ensure greater vigilance through required training of employees and volunteers and providing avenues for victims to come forward. The diocese has continually revamped and toughened the policies and gives a watchdog office good lattitude to investigate tiniest hints of abuse.Weve continually heard complaints from Catholics in the diocese about having to take training when, for example, they are parents who just want to lend a hand in classrooms in Catholic schools or parishes. The diocese hasnt budged on it, which is to its credit. Will we ever have a definitive reason why it became such an epidemic among Catholic priests? Was it primarily the enormous power and respect that the collared fathers wielded and used to ensure compliance and silence by their victims? Was it the priests’ own infantile understanding of sexuality that they believed their wanton acts would not scar the bodies, souls and essence of their victims? Some say other denominations are yet to be discovered for well-hidden or unpublicized abuses of sizable magnitude. To a Catholic friend, I put this question: Why has this diocese gotten off for only $2.7 million, which seems comparably light financially?Are you nuts? she asked. What do you mean ONLY? That’s still a lot of money. I cringe when I contribute my envelope at (parish deleted) and wonder whose court case I’m helping to defend, or which priest with AIDS I’m helping to medicate.

Doing church is risky business, of course, because it has to depend on people with their flaws, failings and greed.Things can seem to be rolling along nicely, when things turn sour and bitter in an instant. Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Chandler was rolling along in rhythm with its six-week Bringing Sexy Back sermon series with sharply increased weekend attendances. They were reporting as many as 2,000 more coming on campus for their Saturday and Sunday services to hear the provocative series howsexyami.com, led by Pastor Linn Winters. Half-way through it, on Aug. 30, Chandler police arrested the mega-churchs chief financial officer, Brenda Su Carroll-Nester, on suspicion of embezzling more than $400,000 in church funds. During her five years at the church, she allegedly began siphoning funds for personal use. Police searched her home and say they found more than $250,000 in cash, travelers checks, money orders and gift cards. Whats more the also found about $100,000 squirreled away in a backpack. They also took away two luxury cars, a 2006 BMW and a 2006 Infinity. Church officials said as far back as a year ago, they suspected something was afoul as they put some financial controls into place. I had written a front-page story about the bold sex/faith series,. It was published Aug. 28, and I suspect more than a few folks showed up last Sunday to hear the fourth topic in the series, What Happens in Vegas Wont Stay in Vegas, only to, instead, listen to Winters have to help the congregation understand, react to and heal from the embezzlement and carry out damage control.My first reaction to the theft: How can such a large church be so vulnerable? How could they let this happen? Given how daunting it is to operate a mega-church, to manage so many people and to maintain quality in operations, how could they have left themselves so exposed to such alleged red-handed theft?The other question, of course, was why didnt they immediately miss the money and suspect something? Do they deal in such large sums that such pilfering goes unnoticed? And what took them so long to act, given the suspicions earlier?Wouldnt such a large church long ago have implemented best practices for financial controls and oversight? Is that church so large that no one was capable of suspecting something amiss early on?Unless there were cover-ups or a blind trust in everyone because after all these are good upright people of God, we have to conclude accountability was weak. Often the most vulnerable to incidences like this are churches that enjoy wide independence and that aren’t affiliated to denominations that impose strict oversight rules.I have been a church trustee responsible for Sunday offerings, for counting it and locking it up after services. We always required two people to handle all monies, not only watching one another, but signing off on tallies, which have had to be in agreement to a penny. Together we have taken care of securing it under lock and key for the next team to count it and verify totals against our counts. Most groups I have been involved with rely on more than mere human trust to assure accountability. My own wife was the treasurer for nine years for a small church we belonged to in Iowa. She had oversight. One safeguard against mishandling of cash funds has been to not let those who handle the dollars also keep the books. Embezzlements continue to occur at all levels, private and public. Trust of others is important, but systems should be followed that cross-check, from beginning to the end, and make it too hard for any single person to pull off an chicanery. Sadly, in this case, The Church itself takes a big hit, as the story gives fuel for cynics of churches, and, even megachurches, for example, for being so large that they lose control. Fleecing the flock again, people say.It conjures waste in government because bureaucrats dont have bona fide ownership on the publics behalf or any sense that stealing really affects them. Just recall the reports that $8 to $12 billion is missing in Iraq, whats being called the biggest rip-off ever of the American taxpayer. The cash was shipped in $2 million bricks of $100 bills, some 360 tons of vulnerable money on pallets. Trust at the most foolish level. Inspector generals couldnt account for it, and too few are raising an outrage about it.I suspect Cornerstone Christian Fellowship is reeling from the embezzlement. Just seeing some of the dozen of comments on the Tribune web site at the end of the news story convinces me that it is a public relations nightmare. It can be lesson to other faith communities to put greater trust in systems of accountability that dont even allow human temptation to have a prayer of success.

Somewhere in my home collections is a box packed with all the trappings of the summer of 1987 when Pope John Paul II came to the Valley. I have programs, whole newspapers, press packets, a Vatican flag and lots of clippings.I like to tell the sorry story how our Tribunes coverage of the papal visit on Sept. 14-15 to Phoenix and Tempe won a $1,000 prize. Our papers owner at the time, Cox Newspapers of Atlanta, Ga., held its annual Best of Cox awards, and we won the award for best single-day news coverage of an event in the spring of 1988. So what should a team of editors and reporters do with a cool grand?For starters, they thought that I, as the project coordinator and religion editor, should get $400. Another $100 went to John DAnna, the metro editor, who was prime wordsmith and editor of the stories that day. We had $500 left. The newsroom gang talked about a party. They thought it would be a waste to break it into $30 increments for staff. They settled on putting the cash into the Arizona Lottery. So off someone went to Circle K and bought $500 in tickets. It came Saturday night, and it was a job checking all the numbers on the tickets.We won $44! Our $500 windfall was turned into a $456 loss in an instant. What to do with $44? Well, back into the lottery, of course. You guessed it. It was totally gone when the winning balls finished showing on the screen. Five hundred dollars gambled away by journalists.I cannot say that I remember now where, nor how, I spent my $400 prize, but I think I had something to show for it. On Saturday, I wrote a column about the 20th anniversary on the papal visit, and it prompted reader Patricia Kane to lament that I didnt say much about Shepherd One, the Boeing 727 TWA jet that brought the Holy Father to Sky Harbor Airport from San Antonio, Texas. Kanes husband worked for TWA. My husband fueled it, and they put out the red carpet, she said. She has photos showing her husband at work that day. Kane said her husband and TWA staff burst with pride that they had a hand in the historic flight and visit. Two weeks later, after the pope was here, Kane explained. The plane returned to Arizona and was back in regular service for TWA. She and her husband took that same plane to Philadelphia and saw a plaque inside of it noting that it had conveyed the pope around the U.S. during those 10 days.It was very wonderful that we could be close to the pope even though he wasnt on that plane, Kane said.For the tens of thousands who saw Pope John Paul II at his stops during those 24 hours two decades ago, there remains an invitation to reflect and remember online at www.jp2visit.com. On Sept. 15, the diocese is hosting An Encounter with Christ, a look back at the papal visit. All sorts of Catholic laypersons, clergy and volunteers will come together to remember, led by former Bishop Thomas OBrien who had the biggest hand in getting the pope here.Events begin at 5 p.m. at St. Marys Basilica, 231 N. Third St., Phoenix, with Mass, followed by a dinner and program across the street at Phoenix Convention Center, 100 N. Third St. Tickets are $50. They can be reserved at the same website or call (602) 354-2479. Sept. 8 is the deadline to reserve tickets by phone or the web site. John and Anne Wuycheck of Scottsdale have been coordinating the event..

I wanted to take a shower after we watched Leonardo DiCaprios new documentary, The 11th Hour, the past weekend. Smoke, dirty rivers, sludge and fouling energy policy permeated the powerful film that uses some of the best minds of our age to lay out a well-deserved indictment of transnational companies that clearly intend to reap as many trillions as possible off Planet Earth before human civilization collapses.Arrogant and shameless corporate greed has no limits. Companies like Exxon Mobil earn obscene profits and muscle their way to deals in dozens of nations too weak to resist. Forests are cleared, marshes drained, wetlands turned to housing developments, oil drilled in fragile habitats and ocean life discarded because creatures inadvertently end up in nets and ships cruel machinery. So much time has been lost by those who discounted global warning. They intend to extract as much as they can from the earth. They intend to use the wonderful world of chemistry to concoct whatever combination of material works to lull us through the next rounds of materialism.The film underscored anew that corporate money in numerous industries buy politicians votes in a incestuous world where lawmakers and business folks take turns as lobbyists and deal-makers to perpetuate their own cozy collaboration. Wall Street only wants profits and dividends.Capitalism is on steroids. Its so out of control, and no one has the power or influence to reverse things. The 11th Hour seeks to show how critical things have become. It wasnt quite the classroom teaching of Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth and the litany of experts who talked their way through the 90-minute film had the credentials and urgency in their voices that kept things relevant. I couldnt help thinking how far Leonardo DiCaprio has come since he was in that unforgettable role as the unflappable, learning-impaired boy, Arnie, in the 1993 film Whats Eating Gilbert Grape? He shows earnest commitment to the earth and had the courage to produce the movie in a world with powerfully strong corporate forces to undermine it. The natural beauty of the earth, seas and sky comes forth. Yet we see the loss of nesting places for birds, the proliferation of pollution from coal and oil and watch the crashing jags of ice from glaciers.The encroachment of a rising seas could turn Florida into a peculiarly smaller peninsula, for example. Millions of refugees, fleeing shore cities, would overrun the rest of the country.The films calls on us to recognize the interdependence of all of nature and acknowledge that survival of humankind is contingent on reversing our pattern of exploiting everything out there. When we realize the soil must be alive, that acid rain is unacceptable, recycling has not limits and that there really isnt more where that came from, we may be able to stop the clock thats ticking beyond the 11th hour.