Long Island, New York, parishes forced to pay millions to settle sex abuse claims

Rockville Centre Diocese's 136 parishes paid $53 million of the $323 million payout to victims of sexual abuse by priests and adults


Some Roman Catholic parishes on New York's Long Island were compelled to pay more than $1 million, while others ponied up five figures. But every parish had to pay.
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That's the news that emerged over the past few months from parishes that were swept into the bankruptcy proceedings of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Parishes were tapped to help secure an approximately $323 million settlement of decades-old sexual abuse claims by some 600 survivors, according to a National Catholic Reporter examination of parish bulletins and announcements.

Parishes paid a total of $53 million toward the settlement, and every one of the 136 parishes belonging to the diocese filed for bankruptcy and contributed, whether or not they were being sued, a spokesman for the diocese told the National Catholic Reporter. The move was greeted with dismay at most parishes.

"If anyone is upset, so am I," Fr. Christopher Sullivan wrote to his parishioners in Hicksville, New York.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/long-island-new-york-parishes-forced-pay-millions-settle-sex-abuse-claims

The pattern continues. Wherever there's a conservative bishop, the sex abuse of children follows.
It's that image-conscious authoritarian mindset that children are beneath adults and are not to be believed. To them, the image (not the character) of the institution matters more than the people in it. The ugly truth the authorities habitually try to bury belies the image of the institutional Church.