The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston offered 55 million dollars to settle more than 500 lawsuits by alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, leading lawyers in the case said.
The proposed settlement came one week after Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley was installed as the new head of the archdiocese.
Jeffrey Newman, an attorney representing more than 200 abuse victims, welcomed the offer which was made during an afternoon meeting with mediators in the case.
The Church proposal, if accepted, would settle all 542 suits currently pending against the archdiocese. Newman said the lawyers would discuss the offer with a victims' steering committee and then come back to the table with a counter-offer within a week.
"I think it's a good start and I think the manner in which they've done it is setting the atmosphere for good discussion," Newman said.
"For the first time in a year and a half, we are being treated as equals and human beings and being asked to discuss the resolution of what has been a terrible, horrendous torment for a large number of people."
Lawyers for the victims have, in the past, had an extremely combative relationship with the archdiocese hierarchy, accusing O'Malley's predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law, of reneging on promises of a substantial settlement.
The lawyers said they had no doubt that the new approach was the work of O'Malley, who has a reputation as a troubleshooter.
"I think he should take all the credit. Since he's been installed, there's been an obvious change in attitude," said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for more than 100 alleged abuse victims.
While welcoming the offer, Garabedian warned that there was still a long way to go and that the large number of plaintiffs made any settlement extremely complicated.
"But it is a sign of good faith on behalf of the archdiocese and it should be noted that they have also agreed to pay the cost of counselling for victims after the settlement," he said.
Ann Webb, the New England regional coordinator for the Suvivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said cash alone could not resolve all the issues at stake in the abuse scandal.
"If the public thinks this will settle the problem, than that's worrying because so much remains to be done to ensure that our children will be safe in the future," Webb said, stressing the need for reform in the Catholic Church.
With some two million Catholics, the Boston archdiocese is one of the largest and most prestigious in the United States.
It has also been the focus of a sexual abuse scandal that, according to a report released last month by the Massachusetts attorney general, has claimed more than 1,000 child victims in the past 60 years.
The report held the Church leadership directly responsible for covering up allegations of abuse against nearly 250 priests.
During his installation mass July 30, O'Malley had apologised to the victims and spoke of the need for a "just" settlement.
O'Malley dealt with the first major sexual abuse scandal to embroil the US Roman Catholic Church in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1992.
He was sent to the Palm Beach diocese in Florida last year after the resignation of its two previous bishops, who admitted to molesting children.