Erie Diocese’s Abuse-related Costs Rise to $12 Million

By Ed Palattella
Times News
December 10, 2019

https://www.goerie.com/news/20191210/erie-dioceses-abuse-related-costs-rise-to-12-million

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

? The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.