LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Roman Catholic order of nuns based in Kentucky has agreed to pay $1.5 million to 45 people who say they were abused as children in orphanages and schools.
The settlement ends two years of litigation involving the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
The plaintiffs said they were abused between the 1930s and 1970s, with 20 of them naming a priest who served as a chaplain at an orphanage for many years. Others said they were abused by nuns.
The order admitted no wrongdoing.
"We want to emphasize that we believe in the goodness of the sisters and former members who were accused, most of whom are long dead," a statement said.
Many of the accusations involved the St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage, which was formed from the merger of single-sex institutions and closed in the early 1980s.
William McMurray, who represented the plaintiffs, said the settlement was the first involving an orphanage.
