BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV [Buffalo NY]
July 2, 2025
By Kelly Dudzik
2 On Your Side has a clearer picture of how much money individual parishes are contributing to the $150 million Buffalo Catholic Diocese sex abuse settlement.
Parishes are responsible for $110 million, with $30 million coming from real estate proceeds and $80 million coming from a percentage of the cash they had on-hand as of last August. We now know more than 20 parishes have had their amounts adjusted ahead of the July 15 deadline.
As part of the lawsuit settlement, each parish in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese will pay 10 to 80-percent of the unrestricted cash they had on-hand as of last August. Parishes on the closure list are being asked to pay higher percentages.
2 On Your Side spoke with the Chief Operating Officer of the diocese two weeks ago.
“We actually heard from parishes, a number of parishes, that they expected the amount to be larger. There were certainly some that recoiled. There are some that are challenging various categories of how assets were considered, and all of that is being reviewed,” said Richard Suchan, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese chief operating officer.
As of Wednesday night, we can confirm that some parishes have already paid.
In a Facebook post from Tuesday afternoon on the page for St. Louis in Buffalo, Father Ray Corbin went over some of the changes for the downtown family of parishes. He said since Saint Michael is on the closure list, it paid 80 percent or $2.4 million. A percentage of that would be given back if that parish stays open.
Father Corbin said Blessed Sacrament was asked to pay 25-percent or $80,000, minus a new roof cost, but now it’s paying 10 percent or a little more than $22,000.
A spokesperson for the diocese confirms to 2 On Your Side that the diocese has made more than 20 corrections or changes to the amounts initially requested.
He told us that St. Mark in Buffalo had its amount reduced by $820,000 after money already earmarked for pre-paid tuition was included by mistake in the parish’s unrestricted funds.
And he told us that St. James in Jamestown saw its contribution go up by $520,000 after a previously unreported bank account with unrestricted cash was discovered.
The spokesperson for the diocese told 2 On Your Side that the CFO is not comfortable releasing the full list of parishes seeing adjustments. Again, the diocese is asking for contributions by July 15.