NY Archdiocese creates $300M victim compensation fund amid wave of settlements; follows $230M New Orleans deal and $880M Los Angeles payout
Newsroom (10/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) The Archdiocese of New York announced Monday that it will create a $300 million fund to compensate survivors of clergy sexual abuse, marking one of the latest large-scale efforts by the Catholic Church in the United States to resolve decades-old claims through financial settlements rather than prolonged individual litigation.
In a statement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the archdiocese will finance the fund by cutting its operating budget and selling assets, including completing the sale of its former headquarters on First Avenue in Manhattan. The goal, Dolan said, is to set aside money “to provide compensation to survivors of sexual abuse.”
The archdiocese has retained retired California Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Buckley as a mediator to facilitate negotiations with victims and their attorneys. Judge Buckley previously oversaw similar talks that led to major settlements for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
A spokesperson said church officials hope the fund will resolve most—if not all—of the approximately 1,300 pending lawsuits against the archdiocese.
The announcement coincided with a federal judge’s approval Monday of a separate $230 million settlement between the Archdiocese of New Orleans and hundreds of abuse survivors. New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 specifically to consolidate more than 500 claims and avoid trying each case individually. The plan also includes new child-protection policies.
The twin developments underscore a pattern that has played out across the country for more than two decades: dioceses and religious orders facing hundreds or thousands of lawsuits—many enabled by state laws temporarily lifting statutes of limitations—opting for global settlements or bankruptcy reorganization to cap financial exposure.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, agreed last year to an $880 million settlement with more than 1,000 victims, pushing its total payouts for abuse claims past $1.5 billion when combined with earlier agreements.
Other major settlements include:
- San Diego (2007): $198 million to 144 victims; the diocese filed for bankruptcy again in 2024 facing roughly 400 new lawsuits.
- Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus (2011): $166 million to more than 450 Native American and Alaska Native survivors abused at Jesuit schools.
- Orange County, Calif. (2004): $100 million to about 90 victims.
- Boston (2003): $85 million to more than 500 claimants—the agreement that first exposed the nationwide scope of the crisis.
- Covington, Ky. (2006): more than $81 million to over 200 victims.
- Philadelphia (through 2022): more than $78 million for 438 claims, with additional settlements since.
- Wilmington, Del. (2011): $77 million to approximately 150 victims.
- Portland, Ore. (bankruptcy concluded 2007): nearly $90 million total for over 300 claims; the first U.S. diocese to file bankruptcy over abuse litigation.
- Oakland, Calif. (2005): $56 million to 56 survivors; the diocese entered bankruptcy in 2023 after more than 300 new lawsuits.
Church officials in New York emphasized that the new fund and mediation process are intended to bring “healing and closure” to survivors while allowing the archdiocese to continue its ministries with reduced resources.
Victim advocates have welcomed the prospect of compensation but many say the settlements, however large, cannot undo the lifelong damage caused by the abuse or fully hold the institution accountable for what grand juries and internal church investigations have described as systematic cover-ups spanning decades.
- Raju Hasmukh with files form Crux Now
Related Images:
