BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV [Buffalo NY]
September 10, 2025
By Charlie Specht, Sean Mickey
Rochester and Syracuse settlements included conditions for child-protection rules, prohibiting church staff from being alone with minors.
The Diocese of Buffalo has until October 1 to submit a new plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a tentative $272 million settlement agreement reached with survivors of sexual abuse.
While the size of the payout has drawn headlines, survivors say the most meaningful reforms could come through “non-monetary commitments” or rules aimed at protecting children and releasing decades of church records.
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Abuse survivor Kevin Koscielniak said the public deserves to know how the Catholic Church allowed abuse to persist for decades.
“These are crimes that were committed against children from an institution that was supposed to be so trusting and so worthy and so good,” Koscielniak said. “The public needs to know what this institution is really like, because this wasn’t just a little window. These were decades of cover up, decades. That story needs to be told.”
In Rochester, where the diocese recently settled its bankruptcy case, officials agreed to turn over priest personnel files to the University of Rochester for public storage and review. Survivors’ attorneys in Buffalo are pressing for a similar arrangement with the University at Buffalo.
The Rochester agreement also required new child-protection rules. Priests and church staff are prohibited from being alone with any unrelated minor or taking overnight trips alone with children.
Koscielniak said such steps matter just as much as financial compensation.
“For me and for many survivors, the physical abuse is what it is, but it’s that psychological, emotional and ancillary damage that a survivor causes over so many years. That’s the worst part of it,” Koscielniak said.
The $272 million proposed in Buffalo would come from the diocese, its parishes and insurers. More than 900 survivors have filed claims.
But not all survivors will receive the same amount.
Attorney Stacey Benson, who represents abuse survivors, said cases will be evaluated by an independent claims reviewer under a points system. Factors include the frequency of abuse, the level of violence or coercion, the physical pain suffered and whether the survivor was subjected to “grooming.”
“No amount of money could compensate somebody for what they went through,” Benson said. “This is the way that the courts and the bankruptcy committees have developed the evaluation process.”
Survivors must vote on the final settlement plan before it can move forward. Attorneys expect the process could conclude early next year, though it may extend later into mid-2026.
Benson and other lawyers are also urging the court to allow survivors to deliver victim impact statements in the presence of Bishop Michael Fisher.
“I absolutely think that that would be important,” Benson said. “I would hope that the diocese would agree to that.”
Diocese of Buffalo spokesperson Greg Tucker said in a statement, “The non-monetary plan provisions (Child Protection Protocols) have not been arrived at, as of yet. Generally speaking, the Diocese expects that Child Protection Protocols (which are largely consistent with those already in place) will be memorialized as part of the chapter 11 plan. This would be consistent with other confirmed diocesan chapter 11 plans. The Diocese will be working closely with the Committee to develop agreed-upon language to include in the final chapter 11 plan. As for victim impact statements, yes, the Diocese of Buffalo will certainly support those being included, recognizing that the opportunity for victim-survivors to detail their very personal experiences, however difficult and painful to recount, is essential to their desire to achieve some semblance of justice and closure.”