Hooray for Bishop Foys

Although I detest Stan Chesley (who filed the suit), I think Bishop Foys should be applauded. He's pretty much the first bishop in the country to take responsibility for what the Roman Catholic Church has been doing for the last 50 years. If only the Archdiocese of Cincinnati was as Christ-minded.

The Diocese of Covington has agreed to pay up to $120 million to those who were allegedly molested by priests and other church employees over the past half century, the largest payout yet from any diocese in America in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis.

The record-setting settlement, which eclipses those in abuse cases in much larger dioceses in Boston, Orange County, Calif., and elsewhere, comes in response to a lawsuit charging that church officials deliberately covered up the abuse for decades.

It also dwarfs the $3 million that Archdiocese of Cincinnati officials agreed to put into a victims' compensation fund to address sexual abuse allegations.

To help pay for nearly 50 years of abuse of children and teen-agers, the church will put the Catholic Center/Marydale property in escrow to help raise $40 million in cash for the settlement fund.

The remaining $80 million will come from insurance.

The settlement, announced Friday but subject to court approval, does not specify the number of victims or abusers.

But in a 2003 report, the diocese admitted that it had named 158 victims and that 30 of the diocese's 372 priests since 1950 had sexually abused at least one child.