Catholics have been badly hammered for questioning the amount of compensation, so "the sky's the limit" has become the rule. I agree with the need for compensation and for punsihment of offenders, but what's a rational way to deal with all this?

Well, the way our denomination has dealt with it has been to face rising premiums for the Church Insurance Company's liability coverage-- to the point where many small parishes doing a lot of good works in their communities (and have never had an abuse allegation) have had to close. The premiums strip them of funds for staff; as the congregations age it's less and less able to pick up the slack and do ministerial work formerly done by seminary-trained clergy.

If all compensation went to victimn recovery I wouldn't question it, but how much goes to lawyers? How much is punitive? Sure, the punitive damages lend supportive pressure to higher reporting, better church policies, etc., but must they also lead to a breakdown of systems that had been working well?

~Susan