NEW YORK
Star Tribune
By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press OCTOBER 6, 2016
NEW YORK — Victims of clergy sex abuse willing to forego lawsuits against New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese can seek compensation through a new church fund announced Thursday, but any records of such abuse and what the church did about problem priests will remain private.
The program will be led by Kenneth Feinberg, who managed the federal compensation fund for Sept. 11 victims, with oversight by former New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, among others.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York archbishop, said he created the fund because victims have said they need “a tangible sign of the church’s outreach and sense of reparation.” …
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group that maintains records of clergy abuse, called the New York fund “another tactic designed to fend off disclosure.”
The inner workings of the fund will be private, although victims can decide whether to reveal their involvement.
Marci Hamilton, a legal expert who has advised victims, said the fund doesn’t eliminate the need for a change in the statute of limitations, but does provide “another pathway for justice.”
“It is a smart way to increase access to some kind of compensation for victims who probably wouldn’t be able to handle the rigors of the legal system,” said Hamilton, chief executive of CHILD USA, a think tank on preventing child abuse and neglect.
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