BACKLASH TO NY FUND COMPENSATING SEX ABUSE VICTIMS, by Stefan Farrar, Church Militant (November 12, 2016)

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) - The New York archdiocese is implementing a program to compensate victims of sexual abuse, as long as they promise never to sue the archdiocese. The program is receiving backlash from all quarters.

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program will allow victims with credible allegations of abuse to apply for compensation, with payment handed out within 60 days of the claim. Victims must also sign a confidentiality agreement as well as a release freeing the archdiocese of any litigation over related claims in the future.

"I wish I would have done this quite a while ago," said Cdl. Timothy Dolan in early October. "I just finally thought: ‘Darn it, let's do it. I’m tired of putting it off." Dolan claimed it was Pope Francis' announcement of the Year of Mercy that inspired him to launch the compensation fund.

Critics are claiming the program isn't as simple or as benevolent as it seems, however. In fact, some believe there's a clear strategy by the archdiocese to sweep sexual abuse claims under the rug and obfuscate the truth, while also circumventing the Child Victims Act, which would abolish the statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits.

New York state senator Brad Hoylman is expressing skepticism about the program. "It should also be acknowledged that this is a canny legal strategy devised to reduce the archdiocese's liability for decades of crimes and cover-ups," said Hoylman, chief sponsor of the Child Victims Act.

Currently, New York law places a cap on filing lawsuits once the victim reaches his 23rd birthday, after which he may not bring a claim. Often victims are not ready, however, to bring a claim at that age, only working up the courage to do so later in life. The statute of limitations prevents them from doing so. The bill would also open up a one-year window for victims to sue their abusers.

The bill was introduced in April 16 and has 22 co-sponsors in the state senate. But the New York archdiocese has doggedly fought the bill, spending $2 million in lobbying efforts against it, arguing that the one-year window to re-open old cases would bankrupt parishes. The bill failed to pass this year, but will be back on the table in 2017.

"Cardinal Dolan sees the writing on the wall," said Gary Greenberg, an abuse victim who supports the bill. "He knows the Child Victims Act will pass next year."

"This is an obvious attempt to circumvent justice by creating a committee of members that he selects who will offer priest abuse survivors the opportunity of a settlement outside the legal system, and only in return for sacrificing (victims') rights," he added. "It's disgusting. Cardinal Dolan should be ashamed of himself."

In other words, once the victim accepts compensation, he must promise never to sue the archdiocese on related claims. The program would also keep victims in the dark about their perpetrators, as all information concerning those who abused them would be held from them.

Mary Caplan, former director of the New York chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a group that lobbies on behalf of victims, stated she would "encourage victims to think long and hard before approaching Church officials or their representatives."

The program is reminiscent of some of the agreements of sex abuse cases in Boston, which ended up benefiting the archdiocese and the victims' attorneys while keeping the public in the dark about sex abusers, many of whom went on to molest more victims.

In the case of John J. Geoghan, a notorious abuser of hundreds of children, as many as 30 abuse cases were settled in private that required confidentiality agreements. Mitchell Garabedian, who filed numerous lawsuits against Geoghan, commented that settling cases in secrecy leads to victims feeling "more unnecessary guilt about the sexual molestation, even if it's years later."

Jeffrey R. Anderson, a Minnesota lawyer who has represented more than 1,000 sex abuse victims, has also criticized confidentiality agreements. "I am greatly offended by the frequency and number of confidentially settled agreements. The Church overwhelms lawyers and survivors into silence and secrecy ... and I don't like it."