(LifeSiteNews) — The Archdiocese of New York announced plans last week to raise $300 million to compensate thousands of survivors of clerical abuse within the archdiocese by cutting staff and selling property.
In a December 8 letter, Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced that the archdiocese will begin laying off staff, reducing its operating budget, and selling archdiocesan real estate to raise $300 million in funds that will be used to compensate the over 1,300 alleged victims of clerical abuse currently suing the archdiocese as part of a global settlement. Victims’ abuse advocates have previously claimed that all of the dioceses of New York could pull from the billions in funding held by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Fund to compensate survivors rather than punish employees and parishioners who had nothing to do with abuse.
“As we have repeatedly acknowledged, the sexual abuse of minors long ago has brought shame upon our Church,” Dolan wrote in the letter.” I once again ask forgiveness for the failing of those who betrayed the trust placed in them by failing to provide for the safety of our young people.”
“The archdiocese has now taken additional significant and necessary steps to bring peace and consolation to victim-survivors and their families. We have made a series of very difficult financial decisions, including laying off staff and reducing our operating budget by 10%,” he added. “We are also working to finalize the sale of significant real estate assets … When completed, we are hoping these transactions will net a total of more than $300 million – funds that can be set aside to provide compensation to survivors of sexual abuse.”
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Abuse victims’ advocates from across the Empire State have repeatedly called on all dioceses to tap into funds from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to avoid punishing staff and parishioners, who had nothing to do with the clerical abuse.
The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is a non-profit that supports the healthcare and well-being of “vulnerable New Yorkers,” which is worth about $4 billion. The Cabrini Foundation was born from the 2018 $3.75 billion sale of a non-profit entity, Fidelis Care, a Catholic health insurer run by the bishops of New York’s eight dioceses, with Cardinal Dolan as its president.
“Cardinal Dolan, in a premeditated move, placed those funds in the Mother Cabrini (Foundation) so it couldn’t be touched to satisfy settlements and abuse cases,” Kevin Brun, a clerical sex abuse survivor, previously told LifeSiteNews.
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“And that’s just a playbook that these dioceses across the country and across the world have followed over the past decades,” he added. “All they’re concerned about, no matter what narrative they put forth, that they want to do what’s best for survivors; what they really want is to make sure that they protect their financial bottom line. And it’s horrific.”
Cardinal Dolan also announced in his letter that the archdiocese and the abuse survivors have enlisted retired Judge Daniel J. Buckley to serve as a neutral mediator as the two sides work toward a global settlement. Buckley previously negotiated a global settlement between the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 1,000 sex abuse survivors from the archdiocese.
The Archdiocese of New York, along with each of the state’s dioceses, has been plagued by allegations of sexual abuse in recent years. Most notably for the archdiocese, in 2018, credible allegations surfaced that the late disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, while serving as a priest in the archdiocese in the 1970s, had sexually abused a minor, which led to his removal from ministry.
That same year, accusations of mishandling clerical sexual abuse claims prompted then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood to launch an investigation into the Archdiocese of New York and the other all seven dioceses within the state. The Attorney General’s office has since reached settlements with the Buffalo, Brooklyn, and Rockville Center dioceses, while investigations into the Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Ogdensburg dioceses remain ongoing.
The Archdiocese of New York did not respond to LifeSite’s request for comment by publication time.
