A price too high

Gillian Flaccus of the AP has an incredibly moving account of what happens to (some) clergy abuse victims when they receive six-figure settlements from the Catholic Church. Flaccus builds her story around David Guerrero, who received $4 million as part of an abuse settlement. He’s now high on crystal meth, has spent through most or […]

Gillian Flaccus of the AP has an incredibly moving account of what happens to (some) clergy abuse victims when they receive six-figure settlements from the Catholic Church.

Flaccus builds her story around David Guerrero, who received $4 million as part of an abuse settlement. He’s now high on crystal meth, has spent through most or all of the settlement and his relationship with his family couldn’t be worse.


Says his father, Robert: “I’m going to suffer when I go home tonight and when I go to sleep, I’m going to think about David and I suffer every time I think about him. That’s just the way life is today.”

And his mother, Minerva: “Well, I could live in a tent and be happy rather than live in a home like this with all these problems, these problems with David. This is not normal.”

Here’s the take-away:

The money was meant to soothe the victims’ wounds and be a bridge to a better life, and for many it did. But for a few, the most deeply scarred, the six- and seven-figure checks have instead made things far worse.

For these victims, the money has seeped like a poison into every relationship and laid bare feelings of anger, mistrust, bitterness and guilt that have been buried deep in their families for years. It has fed drug habits and alcohol binges, divided siblings and fueled resentment in parents who walked through hell with their children, only to find rejection and blame on the other side.

Years after the settlements, these families, once united against the church, are slowly becoming divided – and the money is in the middle.

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