Advertisements will begin Sunday aimed at informing those who were sexually abused by Archdiocese of Cincinnati priests of a $3 million victims' compensation fund, starting the clock ticking on a 180-day period in which claims against the fund will be accepted.
That will result in a Sept. 1 deadline for claims to be filed and the $3 million paid out "by the end of the year," said Robert Stachler, a Cincinnati attorney who is chair of the tribunal set up to hear claims and disburse money from the fund.
The fund certainly will be on the front burner for attorney Janet Abaray and her clients who claim they were molested by archdiocesan priests.
She failed earlier this month to convince a judge that attorneys for the accusers should have access to documents the archdiocese and Hamilton County prosecutors shared that resulted in an historic plea by the archdiocese in connection with sex crimes committed by priests and other church employees.
Rebuffed in state court, she filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking those documents.
As part of a settlement into a criminal investigation of the archdiocese, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk stood before a judge in November and, as a representative of the church, pleaded no contest to five counts of failing to report crimes -- priests sexually abusing children.
The archdiocese was fined $10,000 and as part of its plea, agreed to several other terms, including setting up a $3 million fund to compensate victims.
The fund immediately sparked controversy, with critics and attorneys for the accusers charging that it's not nearly enough money to compensate the hundreds of accusers, paling in comparison to the $25.7 million the Archdiocese of Louisville and the near $15 million the Diocese of Covington have paid to settle similar claims.
To be eligible for the fund, accusers have to either drop current lawsuits against the archdiocese or promise not to sue in the future. The funds are available even to accusers who have had their claims thrown out of court because the incidents happened too long ago.
Most of the claims are expected to be made because of crimes committed by priests, but the fund will also consider claims by those claiming they were abused by other church employees or church volunteers.
The ads starting Sunday signal the start of the process for making claims to the fund.
The tribunal overseeing the fund -- Stachler and former Hamilton County Common Pleas Common Pleas Court Judges Thomas Nurre and Ann Marie Tracey -- is using the ads to inform accusers how to make claims.
The ads -- to run in newspapers in Cincinnati and Dayton and other smaller cities within the archdiocese's 19 counties, will note that a post office box, toll-free telephone number and Web site will be set up to provide information.
Once contacted, the tribunal will provide claims forms for those who are considering participating as well as question and answer sheets and other information.
"As they come in, we'll be reviewing them," Stachler said.
He predicts, though, that the bulk of the complaints won't be filed until the last minute, as accusers and their lawyers try to decide whether to participate in the fund or to file lawsuits.
Even if a claim form isn't submitted, Stachler noted, the archdiocese will pay for counseling or therapy for victims of sex abuse, arranged through the archdiocese's chancellor.
"The purpose of this process is not just to deal out money," he said. "The purpose is healing."
Healing can best be accomplished by the archdiocese and Hamilton County prosecutors opening up the documents they shared in reaching the November plea deal, the suit Abaray filed Tuesday contends.
She resorted to the federal courts after Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Niehaus denied her attempt to get access to those documents.
One of those documents notes the archdiocese initially was willing to place $5 million in the victims compensation fund but cut that to $3 million, the maximum it was allowed to spend without seeking Vatican approval.
Abaray accused Prosecutor Mike Allen's office and archdiocesan attorneys of cutting a "side deal."
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