ALBANY (NY)
Times Union [Albany NY]
September 10, 2025
By Lilli Iannella
Hearing in federal bankruptcy court marked by accounts of crimes that left mental scars decades later
Around 50 people filled a federal courtroom on Wednesday afternoon as victims who were sexually abused as children by priests and other employees of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany began to tell the stories of what they endured and how it has affected their lives.
The proceeding comes as some are nearing death and many survivors have “waited decades to tell their stories,” according to a motion filed in June by the Official Committee of Tort Claimants, which represents the interests of hundreds of sexual abuse survivors.
The hearing in federal bankruptcy court, which is scheduled to last two more days, is taking place as the diocese — which is affiliated with or operates dozens of churches, schools and other entities — faces hundreds of claims under both the Child Victims Act and the Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily lifted New York’s statute of limitations to allow survivors of abuse to file lawsuits against their abusers or the institutions that harbored them.
“This day is about you,” said attorney Edwin Caldie, who is part of the counsel for the committee, in the minutes before survivors began to share their victim-impact statements at the podium. The listeners included Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, U.S Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Littlefield Jr. and dozens of relatives of the victims.
“The older I get, the more intense the memories of abuse become,” an 80-year-old shared in their statement.
The proceeding is expected to continue on Thursday and Friday, with dozens more accounts of abuse, either alleged or already proven. The three-day hearing was scheduled by Littlefield in response to the plaintiffs’ motion. The diocese and the plaintiffs’ attorneys have been involved in a drawn-out but so far fruitless negotiation that could result in a global settlement of claims. The court overseeing the bankruptcy has cleared the way for a handful of cases to go to trial, with the first scheduled to begin this fall.
The first afternoon of the hearing brought heart-wrenching statements marked by gruesome detail of assault from a dozen survivors; some were delivered by the victims themselves, while others were read aloud by their attorneys.
Many victims remained anonymous while reading their statements. John Ciota, who agreed to be named, wrote in his impact statement that the damage he suffered as a youth “will never end,” even in his mid-70s.
Ciota is not alone. Many survivors — some whom tried to hold back tears while sharing their statements — listed depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol abuse, a lack of self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, failed marriages, shame, trust issues and more as long-term affects from childhood sexual abuse. For some, their faith in the church was destroyed.
“Those dark walls surround me every day when I close my eyes. … I felt like I was drowning with God himself forcing me under water,” a victim wrote in their statement. “It’s a wound that I live with every day.”
Another survivor said she questioned if her infertility had been a result of rape by church members she experienced as a teenager.
“What happened to me was nearly 55 years ago, yet I feel it every day,” she said.
Another woman, who claimed to have lost her husband as a result of stress from being traumatized by the abuse he faced at age 13, called the effects of the abuse “irreversible.”
“I will never truly heal,” she said. “I am broken, and I feel like I am made of shattered glass.”
For some survivors, the alleged abuse occurred at school or at church. “I wish that I hadn’t taken for granted that I was in a safe place,” one survivor said.
For others, the alleged abuse occurred in a church member’s residence, sometimes after they were supplied with alcohol.
One survivor went from being an “extremely innocent child to an absolute nightmare,” claiming to have gotten “blackout drunk” at bars before being molested by members of the church as a teenager.
“I did not understand that I had just been raped,” one victim shared about abuse they suffered a half-century ago, at age 15. “No one ever told me I was allowed to say no.”
The victim called it “a life-changing experience” to be heard without interruption in the courtroom.
Another survivor who agreed to be named, Matthew Magee, called it “a mere miracle” to be standing in the courtroom on Wednesday, about four decades after facing abuse between the ages 9 and 12.
“The church, whose doctrine has always preached protection for the innocent, has shown us something very different,” Magee said. “So much has been lost. Too much to name. But I hope my words — and the words of others like me — help guide you to shape a different future. One where survivors are honored. One where truth is not obstructed. One where justice does not arrive decades too late.”