ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
April 16, 2020
By Steve Orr
The parishes that make up the diocese of Rochester, some of them already hobbled by declining attendance and flagging finances, are facing a new threat.
A wave of litigation.
The diocese’s parishes, as well as charitable affiliates like the CYO and Camp Stella Maris, are facing more than 400 legal claims that allege sexual abuse of young people by priests and nuns connected to those organizations.
Some parishes, like Saint Kateri Tekakwitha in Irondequoit and Holy Name in Elmira, have been named in more than two dozen claims. Catholic Charities and the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) have been named 15 times.
If the lawsuits went ahead, the cost of defending them might be enough to put many parishes and affiliates permanently underwater.
But for now, those lawsuits are on hold.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren, convening court remotely as the coronavirus pandemic plays out, has ordered that all of those claims be temporarily frozen.
Warren is overseeing the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which was filed in mid-September.
The bankruptcy filing was driven by the need to cope with a wave of lawsuits filed under New York’s Child Victims Act, which allowed victims of child sexual abuse to bring suit against their abuser, no matter how long ago the act occurred.
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