Rockville Centre, New York, Catholic diocese files for bankruptcy amid clergy abuse lawsuits

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, a Roman Catholic diocese in New York City’s suburbs, has become the largest diocese in the U.S. to declare bankruptcy to protect itself from a wave of lawsuits over past sexual abuse by clergy members, the Associated Press reported. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday. It is the eighth largest diocese or archdiocese in the country and serves more than 1.4 million Catholics on Long Island.

In a video posted on the diocese’s website, Bishop John Barres said the financial burden of the litigation had been severe and was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the goal was to ensure that all clergy sexual abuse survivors, “and not just a few who were first to file lawsuits, are afforded just and equitable compensation.” Barres also said the diocese could not carry out its spiritual, charitable and educational missions while bearing the increasing cost of litigation associated with these cases.

More than 200 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy members have been filed against the diocese since 2019, when New York passed the Child Victims Act. That law suspended the statute of limitations so that people could pursue decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers and other adults.

Jeff Anderson, a lawyer representing people who say they were abused by clergy in the diocese, called the bankruptcy filing “strategic, cowardly and wholly self-serving.” He said the Child Victims Act gives people until next August to sue over long-ago allegations, but that a bankruptcy judge will likely set a deadline for claims against the diocese, shortening that window. In a written statement, Anderson said survivors would still be able to come forward and that he and his clients would continue to seek accountability from the diocese.

Rockville Centre is the latest in a new wave of diocese bankruptcies. Three other New York dioceses, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, filed for bankruptcy within the last 13 months. Last year, dioceses in Guam and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, filed, and in May, the Archdiocese of New Orleans did so. About two dozen dioceses or archdioceses in the U.S. have sought such protection in the face of sexual abuse lawsuits since the early 2000s.

The diocese started an independent compensation program in 2017 to provide settlements for victims of past sexual abuse. Officials said it has so far paid more than $62 million to about 350 survivors under the program. Settlements may be higher for some accusers who did not participate in the program and instead filed lawsuits under the Child Victims Act. Providing fair compensation to survivors regardless of the path they chose is a matter of defending those who have been wronged (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Barres said most of the diocese’s operations would continue despite the filing, and that employees and vendors would be paid. He said parishes and schools are separate legal entities that are not covered by the bankruptcy filing. The report noted that in other bankrupt dioceses, operations have shed jobs and properties to cut costs and fund settlements.

Source: Read the original report