The program will be overseen by an Independent Oversight Committee (IOC) consisting of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former California Governor Gray Davis, and business leader and former Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet.
At the Sept. 16 press conference Secretary Panetta said, “This important program is a necessary response to historic claims of child sexual abuse in the participating dioceses. Today, it is required that every new claim of abuse must be reported to law enforcement which will lead to the prosecution of those who have abused children. Although the ICP will zealously protect the privacy of any confidential information voluntarily provided by victims to the administrators, victims are free to discuss their history of abuse and their experience with this program. The administrators and IOC will periodically issue reports regarding the number of claims filed with the program and the amount of compensation provided to those victims. The purpose of the IOC is to oversee the effectiveness of the program and ensure that it is administered entirely independent of the Church. Our goal is to make sure that the public can have faith in the fairness and integrity of the ICP.”
Contreras-Sweet, who said she views the issue first as a mother, become emotional in her remarks on Sept. 16.
“There’s nothing that can get me past the pain of these children,” she said. “I hope this [Compensation Program] is a turning point for our Church.”
The ICP is independent from Church control. Kenneth R. Feinberg and Camille S. Biros, nationally known compensation program administrators, have been working with the California Bishops since last November to design the program.
Feinberg and Biros are administering similar compensation programs for child victims of abuse covering Catholic dioceses in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Colorado.
Individuals who have previously notified the Dioceses of allegations of abuse will be sent ICP Claim packets; individuals who have not previously notified the Dioceses of allegations of abuse can now register with the program for an initial eligibility review. Eligible victims may file claims, regardless of when the abuse might have occurred.
The six Participating Dioceses – San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange, Fresno, Sacramento and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles – comprise more than 10 million Catholics, about 80 percent of the state’s Catholic population.
The Independent Oversight Committee will periodically review information and claims submitted in each of the six dioceses and issue aggregate reports of the numbers of claims and financial settlements awarded.