Last week St. Paul Attorney Jeff Anderson announced a $210 million settlement with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on behalf of 450 victims of priestly sexual abuse.
Happily, many Twin Cities parishes contributed to the fund, some to take responsibility for acts committed in their churches.
Justice for victims doesn’t mean the abuse is history. As recently as 2014 the U.S. papal emissary ordered the Archdiocese to cover up allegations of improper behavior by then Archbishop John Nienstedt.
And CRUX reported just this January that Pope Francis characterized overwhelming evidence of abuse in Chile as ‘slander’ – before a global backlash prompted him to start reaching out to victims.
Continued vigilance is necessary, because institutions that assert great authority over their members are often susceptible to abusing their power.