One more day for Catholic sex abuse survivors to file claims for victim compensation fund

CBS 21 News
May 12, 2019

https://local21news.com/news/local/one-more-day-for-catholic-sex-abuse-survivors-to-file-claims-for-victim-compensation-fund

Monday is the last day for sex abuse survivors to file any claims for a victim compensation fund through the Harrisburg Diocese.

The fund was launched back in February. It gave survivors four months to file any claims.

The church has put aside millions of dollars for victims who want a settlement.

Monday is the last day any victim who was involved with the diocese can make a claim.

“It’s going to come from the priest retirement fund,” explained spokesperson Mike Barley. “Our hope is to use that money to pay out the settlement and our hope is to recoup some of that money with insurance settlements.”

Some say this is a band-aid.

“Well first of all, I don’t think a lot of people don’t even know about it," said Saundra Fortney-Colello, who has been fighting for church sex abuse victims since her family went public with their story. "Unless you’re like us at the Capitol fighting all the time and you’re in the know, a lot of people aren’t aware of that.”

Her sisters say they were abused by their pastor.

“A lot of these victims are struggling, and the last thing they’re paying attention to is laws coming up, what the churches say," Fortney-Colello said. "I mean, they’re trying to keep their act together. There are a lot of people that are really messed up because of this. They have drug problems, they have marriage problems, you name it.”

The Diocese is working with an independent firm to assess the claims.

Barley says the church will only know how much money, to whom, when and where.

“This is what we have in front of us and this is the choice that we’ve made to help with survivors," Barley said. "We understand some may not take us up on that opportunity, but we do believe that there’s going to be a number of folks that we’ll be able to help and assist with this.”

Barley says there are talks of opening another window for the fund, but that if you want to apply, you should do it now.

“So they can have it on file, and certainly if those cases haven’t been reported to law enforcement, one of the things is it gets reported to the child help line," Barley said.

Fortney-Colello says more needs to be done.

Her family will continue to fight for statute of limitation reform.

“Our family was given the gift of the grand jury, okay, not a lot of people have that," Fortney-Colello said. "But, when you have discovery in court case, and all that stuff comes out, and that’s what people want, they want validation."