Before dismissing staff however, the Archdiocese sold its First Ave. Manhattan office headquarters building for US $100 million. It will be redeveloped as rental units.

The remaining Archdiocese staff are being relocated to a smaller building at 488 Madison Ave., closer to St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.

The proceeds "will be used to ease the financial burden caused by the sexual abuse crisis" Dolan said.

Difficult decisions

Dolan said laying off staff was difficult but necessary. 18 people were affected, about four percent of the administration staff for the Archdiocese.

"Such decisions are never easy, but the current financial crunch the Archdiocese faces, and the upcoming move to our new offices in 2025, make this the appropriate time to make some tough decisions" he told the Archdiocese's faithful in a letter.

According to media reports, this will save the Archdiocese over $1.5 million as officials focus more resources on parishes.

"Our goal in all of this is to ensure that we are responding as effectively as possible to the needs of the people we are called upon to serve in the ten counties and nearly 300 parishes that make up this Archdiocese" Dolan said.

"This restructuring has, unfortunately, resulted in regrettable lay-offs for some workers at the ... [office headquarters] ... and elsewhere around the Archdiocese."

Dolan added that further staff reduction is likely, at the very least through attrition.

Covering costs

Dolan said costs surrounding the sex-abuse cases against the Church remain a major financial concern. The Archdiocese has sued its insurer, Chubb, for refusing to pay some of the claims.

"We have worked hard to settle meritorious cases not covered by insurance, in justice to the victims of years past" Dolan wrote in his letter.

"We settled over 400 hundred cases through our Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programme and 123 more in response to the Child Victims Act of 2019.

"There remains about 1400 cases of alleged abuse, some dating back to World War II.

"To be clear, not all of these allegations are against priests. In fact, the two largest groups of complaints are against a former volunteer basketball coach and a former janitor…..In the long run, all these cases are a towering expense for us" he wrote.

In addition to the proceeds from the Manhattan property sale, Dolan said other properties are being considered for sale as well.

"Our future financial strength will require even more strategy and sacrifice, even more help from the Archdiocese, and more help from our parishes and people" he said.

Some of the savings from the Archdiocese staff redundancies and property sales will go back to parishes in the form of grants - for example, to organise special Masses for immigrant communities that make up the Archdiocese which encompasses Manhattan, Staten Island, The Bronx and northern suburbs, Dolan said.

Source

• NY Post

The current plan was designed to limit financial damage to the Church by having clergy sex abuse survivors sign away their rights to sue the Church.

Known as the Melbourne Response, compensation payments were initially capped at $50,000 when Cardinal George Pell devised the scheme in 1996.

Payments were later raised to $75,000. However, victims had to to sign a deed of settlement waiving their right to take civil action against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

A spokesperson for the archdiocese says, despite this deed, the archdiocese has provided "additional redress payments totalling $11.07 million based on a cap of $150,000 to 233 survivors of child sexual abuse".

These survivors include those whose claims were previously accepted by the Melbourne Response and who received compensation under previous caps.

Although the deed of settlement has not so far been challenged in the state of Victoria (of which Melbourne is the capital), some victims in other Australian states have received hundred-fold increases in payouts after judges set aside their deed of settlement with the church.

But that number could increase. Victoria's state government is considering following the states of Queensland and Western Australia in providing blanket relief to survivors who have signed so-called releases from liability for the Church.

If it were to do this, survivors would be free to sue for further damages, which would in turn see payouts from the archdiocese climb considerably higher.

Observers have noted in some other states, these payments have increased one hundred-fold.

Australia's Royal Commission into Child Abuse recommended a maximum payout to victims of $200,000. The National Redress Scheme currently limits payouts to $150,000, but a parliamentary inquiry has recommended this be changed to $200,000.

The Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference backed the $200,000 figure in its submission to the parliamentary inquiry.

Source

• Crux
• Image: Irish Times