By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – The Catholic Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay $800 million in a settlement with 1,300 sex abuse survivors, one of the largest payouts in a wave of lawsuits over clergy sex abuse in the U.S.
The settlement is second only to the $880 million deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024. The Catholic Church has paid billions of dollars in settlements across the U.S. in the past several years, after New York and other states enacted laws that temporarily enabled victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits over decades-old crimes.
Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, attorneys who represent 300 abuse survivors with claims against the archdiocese, said the settlement was a triumph that would end nearly six years of legal battles with the Church and its insurers. The proposed settlement is subject to final documentation and full survivor agreement before it is complete, Anderson said.
Archbishop Ronald Hicks said in a Friday letter to parishioners that he is “cautiously optimistic” that all of the sex abuse claimants will support the deal. Hicks, who became the archbishop of New York in February, said the Church had cut spending on staff and operational expenses to fund the settlement.
“This has been a painful process – most significantly so for the victim-survivors and their families and loved ones who have suffered, in most cases, for decades,” Hicks said.
In addition to the $800 million payment, the Archdiocese agreed to release documents pertaining to sexual offenders in the Church.
“It is far from full accountability, but it is a measure of responsibility,” Anderson said in a Friday statement.
The settlement will allow abuse survivors to litigate against the Church’s insurers for additional payouts.
The settlement also avoids a bankruptcy by the archdiocese. New York’s Child Victims Act, passed in 2019, and similar laws in other states have driven many large Catholic organizations to seek bankruptcy protection around the U.S.
In New York state, every diocese except for the New York archdiocese and the Brooklyn diocese has filed for bankruptcy to finalize similar settlements of sex abuse lawsuits.
Finnegan, who also represented survivors in the Los Angeles settlement, said that settling outside of bankruptcy is better for survivors and for Catholic dioceses.
“It’s been better for both sides to reach resolution sooner, rather than going through a long and costly bankruptcy,” Finnegan said.
The New York archdiocese and abuse survivors began mediation in December before retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Buckley, who also mediated the Los Angeles settlement. In a statement at the time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged that sexual abuse of minors had been a shameful chapter of the Church’s past.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by William Maclean and Edmund Klamann)
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