Child Victims Act sponsor on Rochester diocese bankruptcy: 'It’s their own fault'

By Joseph Spector And Jon Campbell
Journal News
September 12, 2019

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Supporters of the Catholic Church in New York feared the Child Victims Act would force dioceses across the state into financial ruin.

On Thursday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester became the first diocese in New York to file for bankruptcy protection, claiming it faces massive judgements for past sexual abuse within its organization.

Supporters of the Child Victims Act, which went into effect last month, had little sympathy for the diocese and others who may also go the bankruptcy route.

Victims "have every right now to go to court and seek justice, and if the institutions find themselves in financial difficulty, what I could say is: It’s their own fault,"  Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill's sponsor, said Thursday.

The law revived previously expired claims from child sexual abuse victims, who have a one-year window to seek judgments against their abusers and the institutions who harbored them regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Rosenthal said religious institutions had successfully fought the Child Victims Act from becoming law for years by claiming it would lead to their financial demise.

But Democrats who control the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the fiscal ramifications of the law shouldn't overstep the rights of victims to seek justice.

"We can’t let these institutions off the hook. They were implicit in ruining so many lives by harboring people they knew were abusing children," she said.

The Child Victims Act changed the state's strict statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children and opened up the one-year window to revive past claims of any age.

It extended the statute of limitations to allow for criminal charges against sexual abusers of children until their victims turn age 28 for felony cases, up from the previous 23.

The law also allows victims to seek civil action against their abusers and institutions that enabled them until they turn 55.

The one-year lookback window, which opened last month, has led to a flood of lawsuits against organizations, particularly religious institutions.

There was no immediate comment from the Archdiocese of New York about the Rochester bankruptcy decision and whether others might soon take the same legal steps.

Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, ripped the Rochester diocese from seeking bankruptcy protection.

"It's despicable that the Rochester Diocese would file a voluntary bankruptcy to shield their assets from sexual abuse survivors suing through the Child Victims Act," Hoylman, the bill's Senate sponsor, said in a statement.

"For decades, survivors of child sexual abuse unsuccessfully pleaded for help from the church. As a result, we passed the Child Victims Act so survivors would finally have their day in court and hold accountable their abusers and the institutions that may have harbored them."