Harrisburg Diocese Opens Clergy Sex Abuse Victims’ Fund to New Claims
By Ivey DeJesus
The Diocese of Harrisburg has made a substantial change to eligibility requirements for its victims compensation fund. On Wednesday, Bishop Ronald Gainer announced he would waive the requirement that survivors of clergy abuse must have identified themselves to the diocese by Feb. 11. Under the revised guidelines, survivors of abuse who had not previously come forward to the diocese are eligible for the program. Gainer rolled out the change after recently completing a series of meetings with parishioners across the diocese. In a written statement, diocesan officials noted that the bishop had made the change based in part on the feedback from those sessions. “Our goal is to help as many survivors of clergy sexual abuse as possible and we encourage you to come forward and contact our fund administrators, Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. (CMCI)," Gainer said in the statement. "Again, in my name and on behalf of the Church, we extend our prayers, heartfelt sorrow and apologies to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse.” The diocese in February rolled out the so-called Survivor Compensation Program, which will pay out millions of dollars to victims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese has not disclosed a specific dollar amount for the fund, or details on the size of individual amounts that will go to victims. The program will be administered by Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. and was effective immediately for three months. Private settlements to individual victims will be determined by the fund administrator. The diocese said it has set aside a “substantial” amount of money in the millions to fund the compensation program. Within 14 days of the close of the claims period, the fund administrators will notify all claimants as to their eligibility. The claims period will run for 90 days, from Feb. 12 through May 13. Settlement offers will be made on or before June 28. Five other dioceses across the state and the Philadelphia Archdiocese have established compensation funds for victims. The dioceses rolled out the programs in the wake of a scathing grand jury report released in August 2018 detailing the horrific and widespread sexual abuse of thousands of minors over seven decades by hundreds of priests in six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg. Nearly identical patterns of abuse were previously found several years ago in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by a local grand jury investigation. Information on the Survivor Compensation Program is available at: 1-800-540-2624 Contact: Harrisburg@commonwealthmediation.com www.commonwealthmediation.com www.youthprotectionhbg.com. Eligibility for the program include: Persons alleging childhood sexual abuse. “Childhood sexual abuse” means sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of a child (a person under the age of 18) and other behavior by which an adult uses a child as an object of sexual gratification, including attempted behavior. The allegation is against a priest, deacon, or seminarian of the diocese; or the allegation is against a priest or deacon from another diocese who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse; or the allegation is against a priest or brother from a religious order who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse. Claimants not eligible include: Persons who have previously settled the claim with the diocese. The childhood sexual abuse has no connection to the Diocese of Harrisburg.
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