The Archdiocese of Santa Fe and its insurers have reached a $121.5 million settlement that impacts more than 370 sexual abuse survivors, according to a KOB 4 report.
The settlement comes more than three years after Archbishop John Wester filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy amid sexual assault claims against church clergy members. Some of the cases involved in the lawsuit that forced the settlement date back more than 60 years though there is no time limit and financial figure that can ease their trauma.
“We talk when we need to, but nobody has ever talked about what they went through,” said “Ana,” an abuse survivor, who spoke to KOB 4.
She was in seventh grade when she was abused for the first time. It continued through the first semester of eighth grade.
“It’s just all very traumatic,” she told KOB 4. “I don’t know that there would ever be an amount that would make that better or worth it because I can’t speak for anybody but myself. I would have done anything to not have survived that, and just have had a regular middle school experience.”
The judge must accept a payment process for the settlement, which prevents a plaintiff from suing the archdiocese again.
“I need peace,” Ana said. “I need closure, and I need to know that in some way, it’s been settled.”
