SCRANTON (PA)
Times Leader
January 22, 2019
By Bill O’Boyle
The Diocese of Scranton on Tuesday launched its Independent Survivors Compensation Program designed to compensate survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Participation in the program by survivors is voluntary and the program is run independently of the Diocese.
“Our first priorities are to provide support for survivors of child sexual abuse and to take every step necessary to eradicate abuse from the Church altogether,” said the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L., Bishop of Scranton. “This program helps. While no financial compensation can change the past, it is my hope that this program will help survivors in their healing and recovery process.”
The Diocese’s program includes all victims, whether the abuser was a priest from the Diocese of Scranton, from a religious order, or was a lay employee of the Diocese. The Diocese announced on Nov. 8, that the program would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros, two leading experts in mediation and alternative dispute resolution who have overseen similar programs started by five Catholic Dioceses in New York. Feinberg and Biros will have absolute autonomy in determining compensation for survivors, and the Diocese of Scranton has agreed to abide by all of their decisions.
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