What the church owes: Making amends for years of abuse

New York Daily News
January 9, 2017

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/church-owes-making-amends-years-abuse-article-1.2938266

Confession time

In a morally important move, Timothy Cardinal Dolan in October handed famed mediator Ken Feinberg a blank check to make right by those victimized by clergy in the New York Archdiocese, covering Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island and points north.

The first round of victims who can apply for compensation are 150 people who had already lodged complaints to the church.

Their deadline is Jan. 31, and participation is important. The choice is deeply personal, but the alternatives are to suffer in silence or wait and see if New York someday passes a law allowing lapsed claims to resurface.

About half of the 150 people, 72, have submitted claims. Feinberg is carefully weighing the awful details of each case and so far has produced 33 offers to compensate for suffering.

All is confidential. If and when an individual accepts payment, at that point right to pursue a claim in court must be waived — but not until then.

The success of this program is important not just to these 150 victims, but to those yet to come forward, and to other jurisdictions that hopefully can someday soon follow Dolan’s example.