ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle [Rochester NY]
September 5, 2025
By Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Judge Paul Warren produced a blue shoelace at the end of the hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Sept. 5.
It wasn’t the promised ribbon, but it tied a bow, literal and symbolic, on the confirmation hearing that will ensure payouts to survivors of abuse and sexual abuse by priests, nuns and church officials in the Diocese of Rochester. The agreement will create a fund of $246 million for survivors, paid out by the diocese and its insurers.
Warren’s shoelace-tied confirmation marked the conclusion of an arduous six-year legal battle between survivors, the church and its insurers. A July 29 hearing was held over to September, where Warren signed the agreement to applause from an at-capacity courtroom.
“I haven’t forgotten what you said in your victim statements,” Warren said. “…The money isn’t going to fix you. It isn’t going to make it go away.”
But the funds, the judge said, should give survivors confirmation it wasn’t their fault and they didn’t do anything wrong. The survivors are expected to see checks in the next 4-5 months.
There were no victim statements at the proceeding. The approval from survivors for the settlement was unanimous in polling done by their legal team.
Checks will be coming for survivors
Steve Boyd, an attorney who represents more than 100 survivors, said outside after court: “Today is huge. It has been a very, very long road. It seems as if every bump that could get in our way of getting to today showed itself — the pandemic, a big Supreme Court decision caused about a year delay, and it was a very tough fight.”
Money was at stake, but the judge and advocates like Boyd made sure to highlight the emotional impact of the day. Also, they mentioned the opportunity for victims and for the church to move forward.
Boyd said it was vital that the system and the church find ways to strengthen protection for children going forward.
“The notion of justice, the notion that they have had to acknowledge what happened under their noses” is critical, he said. They expect that children who participate in local Catholic Church services and activities will be safer going forward, after some protections already had been put in over the years the fight for a settlement was happening.
More: Church sex abuse survivor speaks out after mega settlement in Rochester
‘I’m exhausted’
Carol DuPré was sexually abused by her parish priest when she was 15 or 16 in the early 1960s.
“I’m exhausted,” she said after the court proceeding. “It’s going to be a happy day. We’re going to celebrate at the Dinosaur BBQ.” Then she paused as emotion swelled.
“I’ve met people that are very brave,” she said, her voice cracking. “And very wounded. … Because I’m a woman and I’ve got feelings a lot more than other people, I have been feeling their pain for the last six years. I have had my real quiet times at home where I just wept before the Lord and said this is a terrible thing.”
She said the worst part was that some of the survivors now hate God. “This wasn’t love that we experienced. … There could be a billion dollars that each one of us was given, it wouldn’t fix what we’re working through.”
DuPré said that Jesus and his message saved her and she hopes others will realize that God is loving and not the perpetrator of these crimes.
Church sex abuse survivors finding some closure in Rochester
For John McHugh, another survivor of sexual abuse, the confirmation of the settlement was the end of a long, difficult process. The judge signing the order brought him some closure.
“I am, for the first time, excited for the future, because I can start to put some of this behind me and heal as best as I can,” McHugh said. “I won’t forget what happened but I can start to focus on the future instead of living in the past.”
The $246 million settlement includes $120 million from Continental Insurance Company, a holdout insurer that delayed negotiations for nearly two years after the diocese and three other insurers agreed to pay survivors of the abuse in 2023.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2019, saying it could not afford to pay the compensation being demanded in a flood of new civil suits alleging sexual abuse by church ministers. The claims came after a change in state law, known as the Child Victims Act, expanded the statute of limitations for abuse survivors to sue in child abuse cases.
“While the legal process has concluded, I certainly agree with the judge that there’s still a lot of healing that needs to take place,” said Bishop Salvatore Matano. “And I hand it over to our good Lord, because some wounds can only be mended by him.”
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Catholic Diocese to pay $246M in sexual abuse settlement