NEW YORK (NY)
The New York City Patch
December 7, 2017
By Noah Manskar
[Note: See also a PDF of the Report on the Archdiocese of New York’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program]
The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program made payments to 189 people who were abused by priests.
NEW YORK, NY — Some 189 people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests got more than $40 million from a new victims compensation fund as of Nov. 30, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced Thursday. The payments were the first from the archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Fund, a pool of money created last year to repay survivors of abuse.
More than 200 victims of abuse applied for compesnation before the Nov. 1 deadline, the archdiocese said. The average amount paid out so far is about $211,904.
“Throughout the process, victim-survivors made clear they are not just interested in money, but instead are seeking some tangible sign of the Church’s desire for healing and reconciliation,” the archdiocese wrote in its report released Thursday.
The report does not include information about any individual cases. But one of those who got payments was former priest Stephen Ryan-Vuotto, who has said the well known Greenwich Village priest Rev. Robert Lott sexually abused him as a teenager. Ryan-Vuotto told reporters he reached a $500,000 settlement with the compensation fund.
Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros, two high-profile attorneys specializing in mediation, are in charge of evaluating victims’ applications for compensation, the archdiocese says. An independent panel that includes former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly oversees their work.
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