HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News
May 9, 2019
By Ivey DeJesus
Survivors of clergy sex abuse have just few days to file claims with the Diocese of Harrisburg’s victims compensation fund.
The deadline to file is Monday, May 13.
Diocese spokesman Mike Barley said the number of individuals who have filed for settlements will not be available until the fund administrator, Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc., releases the information. That could be some time next week.
Barley said fund administrators have indicated that “they’ve had interest and feel comfortable about where program is.”
The diocese in February rolled out the so-called Survivor Compensation Program, which is poised to pay out millions of dollars to victims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese has not disclosed a specific dollar amount for the fund, or details on the size of individual amounts that will go to victims.
Private settlements to individual victims will be determined by the fund administrator. Settlement offers will be made on or before June 28.
The Diocese of Harrisburg is of six dioceses across the state, as well as the Philadelphia Archdiocese, to have established compensation funds for victims amid escalating clergy sex abuse crisis. The dioceses rolled out the programs in the wake of a scathing grand jury report released in August 2018 detailing the horrific and widespread sexual abuse of thousands of minors over seven decades by hundreds of priests in six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg. Nearly identical patterns of abuse were previously found several years ago in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by a local grand jury investigation.
In March, after holding public forums with parishioners, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer eased some of the guidelines for participation in the program, including extending eligibility to survivors of abuse who had not previously come forward to the diocese.
Barley explained the importance of the compensation fund being administered by an outside party.
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