Posted On: June 24, 2008, 8:40 am CDT

Posted By: BGD

The reason that people are coming forward now has more to do with point 3 -- anger over discovery of the scope of the problem -- than a desire for cash.

If you watch or read any of the stories about the priest sex abuse scandal, many of these people thought that they were basically alone, especially since the church basically blew off the complaints that were raised to diocese officials at the time. There is power in numbers, especially when you have been carrying an especially painful and private secret for a very long time. When the scandal hit the press, may people felt empowered to talk about it when they did not before.

As far as the money, I think most of them are motivated by a desire to see changes made an acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Also, as to punitive damages in many states, the government takes a portion of the proceeds. I would also be suprised if you see many of these victims living high on the hog with whatever money they get. And if they do, so what? I wasn't molested by a priest, he was.