The Diocese of Brooklyn wants to resolve the issue out of court to avoid “emotional strain for victim-survivors”
FILE PHOTO: A memorial mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY, September 11, 2016. © Getty Images / Corazon Aguirre/Pacific Press/LightRocke
[RT] The Diocese of Brooklyn, which has already paid over $100 million to victims, has announced that it will pursue a “global resolution” to settle the remaining 1,100 child sexual abuse lawsuits levied against its Catholic priests and staffers.
In a letter on Thursday, Bishop of Brooklyn Robert Brennan wrote that the diocese will begin “cost-cutting and setting aside significant funds to compensate victim-survivors.”
“The process of marshalling these funds entails difficult financial choices, but the Diocese is committed to fairly compensating all meritorious claims,” he said. He claimed that the victims’ attorneys agreed that settling out of court will save “time, expense, and emotional strain for victim-survivors that would be caused by individual trials.”
The settlement is expected to be a huge financial blow, forcing the
diocese to sell real estate to muster what is likely to be hundreds of
millions of dollars, the New York Post wrote on Thursday.
The
diocese has already paid over 500 sexual abuse survivors more than $100
million under its Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program,
which began in 2017. None of the payouts have nor will come from
parishioners’ donations, Brennan wrote.
Brennan’s ecclesiastical
district serves 1.3 million Catholics across Brooklyn and Queens in New
York. Most of the lawsuits date back to the 1960s and 1970s.
In December, the neighboring Archdiocese of New York, which
oversees the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, agreed to pay out $300
million to compensate 1,300 people who have accused its clergy and
staff of sexual abuse.