The Catholic Archdiocese of New York is finalizing a settlement worth at least $800 million with more than 1,300 people who said they were sexually abused by clergy and lay leaders, according to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The deal would resolve a long-running legal battle and reportedly reduce the diocese’s risk of bankruptcy.
Although the parties have not reached a final agreement, only a few details remain, according to attorney Paul Mones, who represents some of the plaintiffs.
“It gives people closure, many of whom are in their 60s, 70s and even 80s,” Mones said in a telephone interview Saturday. “It’s an important issue in terms of closing the emotional door – or trying to – because it will never be closed, but (it) at least gives some measure of justice to people who have been terribly wronged.”
In 2006, the New York State Court of Appeals refused to lift the statute of limitations on allegations that Catholic priests committed sexual abuse in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the New York Times reported.
The state then passed the Child Victims Act in 2019, which allowed survivors of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits against abusers until the plaintiff turns 55. Subsequently, thousands of people filed lawsuits against the archdiocese, the Boy Scouts and Jeffrey Epstein, among others.
Then, in 2025, the Archdiocese of New York began trying to raise $300 million to pay 1,300 survivors of clergy abuse. The Catholic District of New York sold its assets and cut costs to settle claims; in New Orleans, the archdiocese declared bankruptcy amid similar scandals.
Survivors in New York can now either enter into an agreement with the archdiocese in which each receives $250,000, or fill out a form detailing what happened and participate in an allocation process that will determine how much money they will receive, Mones said.
In an email to priests shared with The New York Times, New York Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks said: “We are on the verge of being able, please God, to bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors. »
Although the settlement would resolve claims in New York, the Catholic Church faces lawsuits over sexual abuse allegations in other states.
Chicago lawyers filed a half-dozen lawsuits this month against the city’s archdiocese, alleging the institution knew its priests were running a sex ring in a parish and failed to stop it, according to WTTW News. In Baltimore, the archdiocese is mediating with survivors of sexual abuse, WBAL reported.
Mones said he represents alleged sexual abuse survivors in lawsuits against archdioceses across the country, including Buffalo, San Diego and San Francisco.
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