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Diocese of Brooklyn Launches Fund for Victims of Clergy Sex Abuse That Mirrors Cardinal Dolan Program

By Denis Slattery
New York Daily News
June 22, 2017

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/diocese-brooklyn-sets-fund-victims-clergy-sex-abuse-article-1.3267789

The Diocese of Brooklyn is setting up a fund to compensate people who were abused by clergy when they were kids, mirroring a plan set up by Cardinal Dolan across the East River.

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, announced late Thursday by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, will allow victims of sexual abuse by priests or deacons of the diocese to seek financial compensation.

“I am well aware that no amount of money will ever heal the scars of abuse, but this compensation program is a concrete expression of our contrition and our desire to make amends,” DiMarzio said in a video statement.

The Brooklyn diocese oversees 186 parishes and 211 churches in both Brooklyn and Queens.

A loan will be taken out by the church to pay for the cost of compensating survivors, church officials said.

The program will be administered by mediators Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros, who also head the fund set up last year by the Archdiocese of New York.

Retired NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Dunne, retired State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Golia, and former president of the Queens Chapter of the American Psychiatric Association Dr. Barbara Ponieman will serve on aAn independent committee will be charged with overseeing the implementation of the program.

“We commend Bishop DiMarzio and the Brooklyn Diocese for their decision to implement the Brooklyn IRCP,” Feinberg said.

Victims’ advocates expressed disappointment that the Brooklyn diocese is still refusing to name the offending priests, release its sex abuse files and hold accountable those who participated in the cover up.

“Some of the core things we’re after do not exist in this plan,” said Megan Peterson, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The Diocese of Brooklyn will take out a loan to pay for the cost of compensating survivors. Pictured is Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. (ALEXANDER COHN/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

The Brooklyn fund is directly modeled after a program that Dolan announced last year for victims in the Archdiocese of New York.

All told, 120 people have received money from that fund, Feinberg said.

Phase one of the New York program was announced in October and set a deadline of Jan. 31. The second phase, open to victims who’ve never made a complaint against the Catholic Church began accepting claims on March 31 and expires on Nov. 1.

The announcement comes two days after state senate Republicans canned the Child Victims Act, a bill that would have allowed survivors of sexual abuse to bring civil cases up until their 50th birthdays and felony criminal cases until their 28th birthdays.

Currently, they have until their 23rd birthdays to bring such cases.

The bill would have also included a one-year window to revive old cases and treats public and private institutions the same.

Under the current laws, those abused in a public setting like a school have just 90 days from the incident occurring to formally file an intent to sue.

The Daily News launched a campaign last year to pressure officeholders to support a version of the bill.

 

 

 

 

 




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