Louisiana diocesan spokesman: despite settlements, never convinced of abuse claims

September 23, 2014

The spokesman for a Louisiana Catholic diocese has reported that Church officials have never been convinced that a sex-abuse charge was true, although the diocese has paid to settle abuse charges.

Louis Aguirre, a spokesman for the Houma-Thibodaux diocese, told The Advocate that although complaints have been received about alleged abuse, "there has not been a case that we deemed to be true." For that reason, he said, the diocese has never found it necessary to warn parishioners about abuse complaints.

Aguirre rejected the claim that Church officials have demanded confidentiality when making settlements in abuse cases. In fact, he said, abuse victims have asked to keep the cases confidential, but "they can turn around and talk about it all they want."

The Media Report observes that Aguirre's statement illustrates the likelihood that Catholic dioceses have settled abuse cases and paid substantial sums to avoid the costs of litigation, without being convinced that the abuse charges have been accurate.

 

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Further information:

• The Truth Shall Set You Free: Louisiana Diocese Publicly Acknowledges Paying On Bogus Abuse Claims (The Media Report)
• Dioceses differ on allegation actions (The Advocate)