Best of the States
In Mississippi Delta, Catholic abuse cases settled on cheap
As
allegations of sexual abuse by clergy have proliferated across the
Catholic Church, millions of dollars in settlement money has been paid
to victims. Some have received as much as $500,000
apiece.
Not La Jarvis D. Love.
At an
IHOP in the Mississippi Delta, a white official from the Franciscan
religious order offered to pay him just $15,000 to keep years of alleged
abuse secret.
“He
said if I wanted more, I would have to get a lawyer and have my lawyer
call his lawyer,” Love told The Associated Press. “Well, we don’t have
lawyers. We felt like we had to take what we
could.”
The story, the latest in AP’s investigation into abuse in
the Catholic Church, revealed deals struck with two black men for
abuse they said happened in grade school that represent far lower
amounts than what other clergy abuse survivors have received. It also
revealed the men had been asked to sign nondisclosure
agreements, which had long been banned by U.S. Catholic leaders.
Despite the challenges, the team – investigative reporter Mike Rezendes,
photographer Maye-E-Wong, video journalist Sarah Blake Morgan, digital
storytelling producer Samantha Shotzbarger and
researcher Randy Herschaft – produced extraordinary work. Herschaft
discovered several critical threads that showed an alleged abuser was
working with children even after the church had known about one of the
men’s allegations.
For their sensitive work on a complex, emotional and previously untold
story, the team of Rezendes, Morgan, Wong, Shotzbarger and Herschaft win
this week’s Best of the States.
