Dutch Archbishop Offers Apologies and Money to Sexual Abuse Victims

Dutch Archbishop Wim Eijk has offered up apologies and up to $130,000 for each of the estimated 10,000 to 20,000 victims of sexual abuse at the hands of staff members of Catholic Church institutions. The investigation that produced that shocking estimate was commissioned by Dutch bishops but conducted by an independent panel and covered minors abused in the Catholic Church's schools, seminaries, and children's homes between 1945 and 1981. Investigators "received 1,795 complaints of sexual abuse and identified about 800 suspects who worked in dioceses, orders and congregations, of whom 105 are still alive," reports Bloomberg Businessweek. Understandably, it's inevitable to compare the staggering number of abuses and the systemic lack of action against those abusers to the scandals and lawsuits that the Catholic Church faces in the U.S., which have cost an estimated $2 billion and counting. "Eijk said victims would be compensated by a commission the Dutch church set up last month and which has a scale starting at €5,000 ($6,500) and rising to a maximum of €100,000 ($130,000) depending on the nature of the abuse," reports the AP.