Amid child sex-abuse scandals, the Catholic church is losing members and money fast. While membership in the church has been declining for years, the abuse has accelerated the damage across the U.S.
Milwaukee
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan approved payments of up to $20,000 for priests accused of sexual abuse to go away quietly while he was the archbishop of Milwaukee. The payments were revealed in the paperwork involved in the Wisconsin church’s recent bankruptcy filing.
New York
The state of New York gives victims of childhood abuse up to five years after their 18th birthday to report the incident. While over 30 states have been easing similar laws, the New York Times reported that Catholic officials are pushing against similar efforts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, even hiring lobbying and public relations firms to help keep the statues strict in New York and Colorado, presumably since lawsuits against the church have already cost $2.5 billion.
Philadelphia
Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. Catholic official ever convicted for handling of abuse complaints, has been convicted of child endangerment for covering up sexual abuse. He was accused of allowing abusive priests to continue in the ministry with access to children. Though the monsignor claims to have reported incidents to higher-up officials, he simply reassigned the dangerous priests to other parishes.
Seattle
A Seattle man was awarded $6.4 million in a lawsuit against the order of priests; the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate had refused to help when the man—as a teenager—reported being raped for three years by the principal of the school until finally dropping out of school and joining the Marines to escape the abuse. The Oblates order has been investigated for covering up or ignoring child sex abuse several times before, and has insurance that helps cover the cost of lawsuits concerning it. “I wish the Catholics sitting in the pews knew what their money was going to,” the man said.
School Closures
Since 1960, Catholic school enrollment has dropped from 5.2 million to 2.3 million in 2006—costing taxpayers billions to accommodate the students public schools have had to absorb as a result. Since 2000, Fox News reports that U.S. Catholic school enrollment has plummeted by 23 percent, and 1,900 schools have closed. The largest declines have been in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, Newark, Detroit, Newark, and Miami, which together lost almost 20 percent of their students in five years. Chicago Catholic schools have seen significant enrollment increases since Indiana has offered parents enrollment vouchers. Voucher and tax credit programs are being introduced or expanded in Virginia, Florida, and Louisiana. As a result, some public schools are losing students—and loads of funding.
