New York archdiocese seeks $300m to settle claims by clergy abuse survivors | New York
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the largest organization of its kind in the United States, is raising a $300 million fund to settle nearly 1,300 survivors of clergy sexual abuse who are suing the church.
Some of the money at stake comes from the New York archdiocese cutting costs and selling assets after Catholic priests, deacons and lay workers around the world sexually preyed on children for decades and the abusers were protected by their superiors.
The archdiocese of New York laid off employees and cut its operating budget by 10% in an effort to raise enough money to pay off most, but not all, of its outstanding receivables. He also completed sale of former headquarters for more than $100 million on First Avenue in Manhattan and other real estate.
Additionally, the archdiocese agreed to appoint retired judge Daniel J Buckley as a mediator to reach an agreement between himself and the survivors. Buckley played a similar role in negotiations between the Los Angeles archdiocese and more than 1,000 people who accused its staff of abuse, resulting in an $880 million settlement in 2024.
With the civil lawsuit against the New York archdiocese set to go to trial in 2026, the archdiocese has agreed to hold settlement talks within the next two months, attorney Jeff Anderson said. Anderson, who represents about 300 of 1,311 survivors in New York with allegations dating back to 1952 to 2020, said settlements should be accompanied by full disclosure of wrongdoing and measures to prevent future abuses. “The time for reckoning has now come and is long overdue,” he said.
In his statement, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan asked for “forgiveness for those who betrayed the trust placed in them by not ensuring the safety of our young people.”
The announcement of the New York settlement talks came the same day officials announced that the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans and its insurers would pay $305 million to nearly 600 survivors of the clergy abuse scandal there.
The news in New Orleans, home of the second-oldest Catholic archdiocese in the United States, came shortly after the church there received judicial approval to settle a federal bankruptcy protection case it filed in 2020 over allegations of clergy abuse.
A $300 million payment like the one being discussed in New York would be one of the largest payments ever by a U.S. archdiocese. The 2024 Los Angeles deal total was record-breaking.
Monday’s settlement in New Orleans was the second-largest for a Catholic church institution in bankruptcy court context. Neither the archdiocese of New York nor Los Angeles has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The archdiocese of New York said its efforts to compensate victims were “complicated” by its ongoing legal battles with Chubb insurance companies, which it said refused to pay sexual abuse claims for policies the church had in place for decades before 2000.
Chubb also accused the archdiocese of turning a blind eye and covering up child sexual abuse for decades and called for more transparency, saying the archdiocese refused to share “what it knew and when.”
“The insurance the archdiocese purchased covers accidents; it does not provide compensation for knowingly allowing a pattern of abuse to continue for many years,” Chubb said in a statement. he said. “There’s a reason why insurance doesn’t cover this type of behaviour, because insurance will reward those who facilitate criminal behavior rather than those who take prudent steps to reduce risk and protect children from abuse.”
