The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York has agreed to pay $148 million into a fund to settle claims of clergy and employee sexual abuse in an agreement approved by the committee of sexual abuse survivors.
The amount is part of the diocese’s reorganization under its bankruptcy proceedings and must still be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York and by a vote of survivors.
The 126 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will contribute $50 million of the $148 million, primarily from parish savings. The diocese and its affiliates will cover the remaining $98 million.
The $148 million does not include any contributions from insurance companies. The diocese and survivors committee said they “will continue to work in earnest” to negotiate with the insurance carriers with the “goal of achieving a global settlement.” They said they expect that “anticipated insurance settlements will fund a substantial portion of the eventual package.”
Among the insurers involved are Hartford Insurance and London Market Insurers. The insurers had attempted to object to some of the claims but a judge ruled they have no standing to do so because they have no financial stake in them since they have denied liability.
The diocese and the committee of survivors said they are also continuing to work on agreements on child protection protocols that will strengthen the protocols already in place.
The final plan will establish an independent claims reviewer who will review the claims and determine payments to individual survivors.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection in March, 2023. By that time it faced a total of 440 claims under the Child Victims Act which extended the deadline for victims of abuse as children to bring suit. The church said it depleted its self-insurance fund settling about 50 of those claims.
In a statement to survivors and the Catholic community, Bishop Mark O’Connell said:
“As the Bishop of Albany, I want to say a clear and unnuanced statement of guilt on the part of the diocese in its handling of our predator priests and others within the diocese. It is a shameful chapter in our history and no monetary settlement such as the one reached today will erase the pain caused to survivors. On behalf of the Diocese of Albany, I apologize and promise to be exceedingly diligent in my time in Albany to prevent anything like this occurring again.”
“This settlement marks a significant step towards the conclusion of this bankruptcy case and closure for all survivors who have lived with this pain throughout their lives,” said John Ciota and Rick Salamone, co-chairs of the committee of survivors.
The geographical region of the diocese covers the upstate New York counties of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington as well as a portion of southern Herkimer.
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