Milwaukee archdiocese to pay $16 million abuse settlement

Milwaukee archdiocese to pay $16 million abuse settlement
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published September 2, 2006


MILWAUKEE -- The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle sexual abuse claims involving 10 victims in California and two priests, one transferred there by the archdiocese, church officials said Friday.

Half the settlement will come from insurance, the archdiocese said. The deal was reached after two days of court-ordered mediation.

"We believe this agreement brings closure to all cases in California and, hopefully, provides healing for victims survivors," Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan said.

Nine claims were against Siegfried Widera. The other was against Franklyn Becker, who worked in California and has since left the priesthood, the archdiocese said.

The Milwaukee archdiocese had transferred Widera to California in 1981, knowing the priest had a history of abuse. He was facing 42 counts of child molestation in the two states when he died in 2003 after leaping from a hotel balcony in Mexico.

Differences between California and Wisconsin law allowed the victims in California to sue the archdiocese years after the alleged abuse, while the Wisconsin victims could not.