ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Catholic World Report [San Francisco CA]
December 5, 2024
By Daniel Payne for CNA
The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Wednesday said a bankruptcy court had approved its record abuse settlement of $323 million, which officials said will bring “some measure of healing to survivors” of clergy abuse.
The New York diocese announced in September that it had reached the massive settlement for abuse victims after a four-year-long process that included an earlier offer that the survivors had rejected.
On Wednesday U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn approved the settlement, greenlighting the payout that includes contributions from insurers and diocesan churches.
The Rockville Centre Diocese said in a statement that it was “grateful to God” for the approval.
“For the sake of abuse survivors and the Church’s mission on Long Island, we pray that the plan brings some measure of healing to survivors and allows the Church to carry on the saving mission of Jesus Christ,” the statement said.
“Victim survivors of child abuse deserve our respect, our prayers, and our pastoral support,” they added. “The Church is grateful for their courage and perseverance.”
On Wednesday Glenn acknowledged that “money alone cannot make up for the trauma that so many have lived with for so many years.”
“I hope that confirming the plan today will speed the process of providing survivors with compensation and will help put this terrible history behind them so that the Church can carry on its important mission without the distraction of the bankruptcy process,” he said.
The amount represents the largest settlement in U.S. diocesan bankruptcy history. It will be distributed to about 600 abuse survivors.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy in October 2020 following the passage of the state’s Child Victims Act in 2019. That measure allowed for sex abuse lawsuits to be filed in past cases where survivors had not yet taken action, long after the statute of limitations had expired.
Rockville Centre had last year made a $200 million settlement offer to diocesan abuse victims, though the survivors ultimately rejected that offer.
The diocese on Wednesday said its goal “has always been the equitable compensation of survivors of abuse while allowing the Church to continue her essential mission.”
“We believe this plan has achieved those goals,” it said.