NEW YORK
New York Daily News
Seven men abused by priests as children were paid nearly $2 million total through a settlement program founded by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, their attorney said Thursday, urging more victims to come forward.
The men, whose identities were not revealed, were abused by six priests in separate incidents, attorney Mike Reck said during a press conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Each victim received $150,000 to $350,000 through the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program founded by the Archdiocese of New York.
“This is a full measure of accountability and it is a way of saying that this happened. It was wrong. And it was not your fault,” attorney Mike Reck said.
Five of the alleged abusers — Msgr. John O’Keefe and priests Peter Kihm, Gennaro “Jerry” Gentile, Francis Stinner and Ralph LaBelle — have been defrocked. A sixth, Richard Gorman, has been removed from the ministry and is awaiting a proceeding about whether he will be defrocked, Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said. Most of the ex-priests could not be reached. LaBelle declined to comment.
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