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VOTF
Survivor Support Working Group
Statement: San Diego Settlement
With the news of the San Diego settlement, we take
a twin breath of both active concern and sadness.
First, in solidarity and with concern for them, we
salute the courage of the survivors of the San Diego
settlement and their steadfast dignity when they
were used as ploys and pawns in a game of bankruptcy
brinkmanship.
We express unremitting sorrow that our Church had
to be pushed by the civil authorities into the arena
of justice.
We eagerly hope the push extends into a wide arc
of openness of financial accountability as a sign
of respect for those who paid the diocese’s
bills for generations and those who continue their
financial contributions to the Church.
Settlements always have up and down sides. Victims
do not have to go through the trauma of telling their
stories in court and yet their stories remain untold,
and in many quarters disbelieved, because they were
not able to tell their stories in open court.
We vigorously urge all parties to disclose the documents
in this settlement and to disclose them as quickly
as possible. The truth lives in the documents. We
cannot shield our eyes from it any longer.
Contacts:
Kristine Ward, Chair, National VOTF Survivor Support
Working Group
James Jenkins, California, VOTF National Representative
Council
Tom Byrne, Ohio, VOTF Survivor Support Working Group
Lisa Kendzior, Texas, VOTF National Representative
Council
Bob Schwiderski, Minnesota, VOTF National Representative
Council
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