JERSEY DIOCESE TO PAY 800G IN SEX SETTLEMENT

The Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, will pay an $800,000 settlement to 10 former parishioners who claim they were sexually abused by five Catholic priests.  None of the priests admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement.  The settlement resolved claims against Monsignor Michael Cashman of Woodbridge, once a spiritual adviser to Governor Jim McGreevey, and the Rev. John M. Banko of Milford, who was convicted of sexually abusing an 11 year old altar boy.  The diocese also settled claims against Michael Santillo, a former Perth Amboy priest who was convicted of molestation and who died three years ago in state prison; the Rev. John Butler, former pastor at St. John Vianney Church in Colonia, who was accused of misconduct with a minor 40 years ago on Long Island; and the Rev. Mark Kolak, former pastor of St. Matthias Church in Somerset.

(New Jersey)