The Archdiocese of New York has begun the process of negotiating a compensation deal with nearly 1,300 people who accused clergy and lay church staff of perpetrating sexual abuse against them when they were minors.
For this, this … The archdiocese, the second largest in the United States, is seeking to raise $300 million to compensate victims, as its head, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, announced this week.
“As we have repeatedly acknowledged, long-standing child sexual abuse has brought shame to our Church,” Dolan wrote in a letter shared with the New York Catholic community. “I apologize once again to those who betrayed the trust placed in them to keep our young people safe.”
Dolan explained that the archdiocese and victims’ representatives agreed to begin a process negotiated by a retired judge, Daniel Buckley, with the aim of reaching an agreement on compensation.
“I hope and pray that we can work together to reach a comprehensive settlement and give the surviving victims the greatest financial compensation possible to help heal these wounds,” he said.
Mediator in another process
Buckley previously mediated another similar process, that of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in which an out-of-court settlement was reached to compensate nearly a thousand victims. At the same time as Dolan made his announcement, we learned that another archdiocese, that of New Orleans, had agreed to pay $230 million to hundreds of victims.
In the case of New York, Dolan acknowledged that his archdiocese had to tighten its belt and make “difficult financial decisions” to be able to raise funds for compensation. They approved layoffs, cut operating expenses by 10% and undertook real estate asset sales. Starting with its headquarters in New York, on First Avenue, near Saint-Patrick’s Cathedral, an emblematic temple of Catholicism in the United States. The sale represented revenues of one hundred million dollars.
They approved layoffs, reduced operating expenses by 10% and undertook real estate asset sales.
The child sex abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church has been felt with great force in New York and has put many of its dioceses on the ropes. State officials passed laws in 2019 and 2022 allowing sexual abuse claims, even decades old, to be recovered in civil court.
Since its approval, nearly 1,700 lawsuits have been filed seeking compensation, forcing six of New York state’s eight Catholic dioceses to declare bankruptcy.
“Our goal has always been and continues to be to quickly resolve all meritorious claims, award the largest possible amount of compensation to as many surviving victims as possible, and help them heal and move forward,” Dolan defended.
“A step in the right direction”
Conversations about the current process began last month between lawyers for both sides. According to what one of the victims’ legal advisors, Jeff Anderson, told the New York Times, the archdiocese has taken “a step in the right direction.”
But he also assured that “this is the first time that the archdiocese has shown a willingness to be involved in a process of any kind that involves a resolution of the problem for all” and warned that “at the moment there is no type of agreement. “What we have is a proposal for a process in which we will go to mediation.”
Allegations of sexual abuse of minors over decades have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. Pope Leo XIV had his first meeting with activists and victims of these crimes last October. And last month he spoke specifically about the investigation opened against the bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta, Rafael Zornoza: “An investigation has been opened and depending on the results there will be consequences,” he said.
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