Diocese of Rockville Centre clergy sex abuse bankruptcy settlement: Parishes across Long Island set to make payments

Scores of Catholic parishes across Long Island will be required to pay thousands of dollars — in some cases millions — as part of a $323 million clergy sex abuse settlement that may be finalized within days, church officials said.

The parishes also will briefly declare bankruptcy at the end of the proceedings, which have gone on for more than four years, officials said. The Diocese of Rockville Centre said the bankruptcies will not affect the operations of the 134 Catholic parishes in Nassau and Suffolk counties or force any to close. The diocese declared bankruptcy in October 2020.

The $323 million settlement, which involves about 600 clergy sex abuse survivors, was announced on Sept. 26 and may be finalized in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week.

The diocese declined to release the total amount that parishes are contributing to the settlement, but some pastors are providing the information in their churches' weekly bulletins. Some of the amounts range from $82,553 at a parish in Southold to nearly $4.5 million at another in Manhasset.

Parishioners will not be asked to directly contribute toward the payments through, for instance, a special Sunday collection, said the Rev. Eric Fasano, a spokesman for the diocese. Instead, the money comes from a variety of sources, including unrestricted cash on hand, investments, rental income and insurance, he said. Catholic Ministries Appeal donations will not be used, he added.

The amount each parish must pay was calculated based on the number of abuse cases filed against it and the parish’s financial resources, he said. The cases date back as far as the diocese's founding in 1957, and involve scores of priests, according to court papers and attorneys for survivors.

While Fasano said the reaction of many Catholics on Long Island to the parish payouts has been "overwhelmingly supportive," in comments to Newsday some Catholics also expressed shock and anger over the payouts and the scandal, including the drawn-out settlement process.

"The Diocese of Rockville Centre should be ashamed first of all that this wasn’t resolved much earlier," said Phil Cicero, a parishioner at Maria Regina Roman Catholic Church in Seaford. The four years of negotiations resulted in more than $100 million in legal fees, according to attorneys for abuse survivors and the diocese.

"Secondly, they should not place any more financial burden on local parishes that are already struggling," Cicero added.

Others struck a more conciliatory note.

David Bonagura, a parishioner at Our Lady of Victory in Floral Park, wrote an essay for the website The Catholic Thing making the case for parish payouts. "In this painful moment of paying off the debt of sin, Catholics also have to forgive the Church," he wrote. "We let go of our anger for the evils committed. We pray for the repentance of the guilty. We pay our money to facilitate healing and reconciliation."

Parishes set for abbreviated bankruptcy proceedings

The parishes are declaring bankruptcy to protect themselves from possible future lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse, Fasano said. The parish bankruptcy proceedings should take about 48 hours and happen soon, he said.

James Stang, the lead attorney for the survivors, said it is not uncommon for parishes to declare bankruptcy as part of such proceedings.

The settlement stemmed from the 2019 New York State Child Victims Act, which temporarily allowed sex abuse survivors to file lawsuits regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. The Diocese of Rockville Centre declared bankruptcy because potential payments from the law could have led to financial ruin, church officials said.

Hundreds of civil cases against the church were transferred to bankruptcy court. The global settlement was announced in late September, just days before the four-year anniversary of the bankruptcy.

At the Church of St. Mary in Manhasset, the Rev. Robert Romeo recently informed parishioners in the weekly bulletin that the parish is contributing nearly $4.5 million toward the settlement.

"This amount is, at first glance, shocking and overwhelming (as it is to me), but it is based on the number of cases against the parish and the wealth of the parish," Romeo wrote. St. Mary has 10 cases of abuse that took place from the 1960s through the 1990s filed against it, he said. Both the diocese and individual parishes can be named in the lawsuits.

"If we were to litigate the cases on our own, we would face grave danger," with potentially massive payouts that could cripple the church, he said. The Bay Shore school district, for instance, recently paid five abuse survivors a total of $20 million, or an average of $4 million each, he said.

St. Mary’s payout is coming from parish investments, he said.

The abuse, including some bishops who tried to cover it up, fills him with "absolute disgust," he added. "Everything about the abuse scandal has rocked religious and secular organizations and is horrible beyond words," he said. "Most tragically, innocent young people have suffered terribly and, at times, in silence."

The Rev. Michael J. Bartholomew, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, whose rectory is in Cutchogue and whose church, Our Lady of Good Counsel, is in Mattituck, said the parish is contributing $590,846, which will be taken out of its investment fund.

"No money was taken from the Capital Campaign, Building Fund, or Operating account," he wrote in the weekly bulletin, and parish operations will not be affected.

"Hopefully, this money will assist the survivors of abuse in their healing," he wrote. "We hope upon resolution of the Diocesan bankruptcy case, the Diocese's mission will continue to proclaim Jesus Christ to Long Island. We will also finally be freed from the cloud of uncertainty over the past 4 years."

Bartholomew, who is also administrator of St. Patrick Church in Southold, said that parish contributed $82,553.

Complicated emotions over payouts at saga's end

In Oyster Bay, Msgr. Thomas Coogan, pastor of the Church of St. Dominic, informed parishioners that their contribution was $251,000. It came from a money-market fund "that was not funded by parishioner donations but that we had been saving for the purpose of cash flow should we enter another economic downturn," he wrote in the parish bulletin. "We know that the thought of contributing to a settlement can cause anger, confusion and resentment. ‘Why is our parish paying anything? This was not our fault.’ "

But the parish faces eight current sex abuse cases, which if brought to trial in civil court — and if the parish lost — "would devastate St. Dominic," he said.

"We know that the horrific scandal of child abuse was not caused by us, but the 2019 law subjected us to lawsuits based upon claims from decades ago," he said. "By participating in the bankruptcy process, we have helped to resolve all claims and to secure the future of our parish."

In an interview, Bartholomew said most parishioners had been understanding about the payout.

"Actually, it’s not been real negative. I think people are looking to move forward," he said. "Yes, some people are upset, there’s no doubt about that but … I thought it would be much more severe."

But Richard Russini, a parishioner at St. James parish in Seaford, said the parish financial payout numbers were "shocking" and that people in the pews should not bear the burden.

"With the economy the way it is, it’s tough enough to feed your family now," he said.

Still, he hopes this brings the scandal to a close.

"I’ll be glad when it’s finally hopefully behind us," he said. "It’s gone on for so long."

The diocese said in a statement that "feelings of anger over the abuse scandal and its ongoing effects are justified and understandable. We may not have caused this scandal, but we have all suffered its effects. That is what sin does to the human family, causing suffering for all."

"The settlement will bring an end to this painful time for our Diocese. It will bring some measure of compensation to abuse survivors whom we pray will find healing and reconciliation. It has brought an end to lawsuits that could have devastated our parishes. It will secure protections for our parishes" from future major lawsuits as well, the diocese added.