$6,500 - $130,000 depending on the nature

Wim Eijk
Peter van UhmTHE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch archbishop has apologized to victims after an independent inquiry reported that thousands of children suffered sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, and church officials knew about it but failed to adequately address it. The suspected number of abuse victims who spent some of their youth in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to a summary of the report investigating allegations of abuse dating back to 1945. "What was happening was sexual abuse, violence, spiritual terror, and that should have been investigated," Bert Smeets an abuse victim told The Associated Press. "It remains vague. All sorts of things happened but nobody knows exactly what or by whom. The Dutch branch of the Catholic church agreed last month to launch a compensation system that clears the way for victims of abuse by priests and other church workers to receive payments. The new compensation system has a scale starting at euro5,000 ($6,500) and rising to a maximum of euro100,000 ($130,000) depending on the nature of the abuse. - AP
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/inquiry-thousands-abused-catholic-institutions-15168338?page=2#.TutMAHNc9e4