Nearly 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse have been brought against more than 4,000 priests, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Some of those allegations date to the 1940s. The scandal did not break open until about 60 years later, when the Boston Globe began investigating. Since then the Church has paid out more than $5 billion in settlements and legal fees.
The money is still moving. This week, on October 29, the Archdiocese of New York agreed to an $800 million settlement with roughly 1,300 survivors, made possible by the state’s lookback laws. ABC News reported it would be the second-largest archdiocese abuse settlement in U.S. history, with finalization expected in November.
A run of settlements this year
In September, an insurer for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester agreed to pay $30 million to 145 survivors, resolving claims that reach back to the early 1960s. It follows a separate $28 million settlement with the same diocese in 2021. Three survivors pushed for the deal. Two said they were abused by Father Joseph Cashman at Lourdes High School in Rochester in the 1970s. A third said he was 13 when Eugene Herbert, a volunteer known as “Brother Gene” at St. Mary’s Parish and School, abused him.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco reached a proposed $395 million settlement on July 1 to resolve about 530 lawsuits filed after California temporarily revived expired claims. If approved, it would help close the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In May, the Diocese of Ogdensburg agreed to pay $45 million over about 125 claims. Earlier, in April, New York had proposed the $800 million figure.
Not every case ends in agreement. On October 6, Vermont’s Catholic Diocese asked to end its bankruptcy case after more than 100 survivors rejected a proposed $29.4 million settlement. The claimants are seeking access to an estimated $500 million in parish assets. A committee for survivors has accused the Diocese of Burlington of moving $405 million in parish real estate into trusts to hide it.
Windows reopen
In Rhode Island, senators voted 37-0 in June to create a two-year window for previously time-barred childhood abuse claims against institutions, the Diocese of Providence among them. The law took effect July 1. Within three weeks, the diocese faced more than 50 new lawsuits. A multiyear investigation found that at least 75 priests in the state had sexually assaulted more than 300 children since 1950, and that the diocese kept a “secret archive” of internal investigations and settlement records.
Massachusetts followed on October 1. The state attorney general found that 270 clergy members in the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River dioceses abused nearly 1,000 children over roughly 70 years, and that leaders transferred accused priests and failed to report some cases.
Settlements can cover therapy costs, lost income and other damages. Some survivors say holding the Church accountable gave them a sense of justice and the means to rebuild.
Sources
- Catholic Church sexual abuse cases – Wikipedia
- Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyers | Scandal & Settlements
- Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawsuit – Abuse Guardian
