San Diego, Calif., Oct 8, 2007 / 08:46 am
The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is appealing to parishioners and priests to help pay for a recent $198.1 million dollar sexual abuse settlement, the Associated Press reports.
Bishop Robert Brom also issued a memo asking the diocese’s priests to contribute one month's salary, about $1,535 to a fund for abuse victims. "We cannot ask of others what we are unwilling to do ourselves," he wrote.
The donation requests will help "cover the expense involved in compassionate outreach to our brothers and sisters who suffered sexual abuse within the family of the church," the memo said.
The idea came from current priests who saw it as a gesture toward the 144 people who allege they were abused by clergy members and church workers when they were minors.