BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV [Buffalo NY]
May 15, 2025
By Charlie Specht and Sean Mickey
Diocese begins meeting with pastors to determine amounts
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Diocese of Buffalo is now deciding where it will get the money to fund a recently announced settlement with more than 900 survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
The diocese confirmed in a news release Thursday that some of the $150 million settlement will come from individual parishes. The pastors of those churches are now being called downtown to learn just how much that will be.
Other sources include “available funds of the diocese, from individual parishes from their available funds, and contributions from Catholic-affiliated entities,” according to a news release from diocese spokesperson Joe Martone on Thursday.
“In the next several weeks, meetings with lay leadership from all parishes will be held to discuss information on the progress made in reaching an agreement, and the expectations on parishes as we together work to fulfill our financial obligations to the claimants,” the news release stated.
Mary Pruski, a parishioner from Orchard Park who leads the Save Our Buffalo Churches group, said, “I don’t think folks in our generation will forget this ever happened, and it will be in people’s prayers for all these times. I think those folks know that the people do love them and it was the hierarchy of the Buffalo Diocese that didn’t do much for them at the time.”
The diocese’s release noted that the $150 million settlement does not include funds from insurance companies that provided coverage for the diocese or its parishes.
“Settlement discussions with insurers are ongoing under the supervision of mediators appointed by the Bankruptcy Court,” according to the release.