NEW YORK (NY)
Ms. Magazine [Arlington VA]
January 27, 2026
By Hilary Nappi
A familiar announcement, a familiar pain—when headlines celebrate progress that survivors know is unfinished.
When the archdiocese of New York announced plans to raise at least $300 million toward a potential global settlement with childhood sexual abuse survivors, headlines framed it as progress. For those living with the trauma, it landed as a mix of relief, anger, exhaustion and deep skepticism shaped by decades of abuse of power, institutional denial and calculated delay.
The story isn’t the dollar amount; it’s the decades survivors have waited for justice. They had to fight just to be heard by the very institution that failed to protect them and now must watch that same institution frame overdue negotiations as moral penance.
Any willingness by the church to engage in meaningful talks is better than silence, but this moment should not be mistaken for accountability. It signals the start of a process survivors should never have had to force through legislation, litigation and relentless public pressure.
What the Headlines Miss About Progress
Despite the celebratory headlines, there is no settlement—only an agreement to enter mediation. That process might lead to justice, or it might repeat a familiar pattern of delay and coercion where only the diocesan-paid lawyers profit. Mediation can help resolve disputes, but it can also pressure survivors into unfair settlements designed to protect institutions more than people.
Numbers like “$300 million” create an illusion of imminent justice. Yet the final amount, distribution and terms remain uncertain. Survivors have seen this before: public relations dressed as progress, negotiations that drag on, outcomes that preserve the church rather than restore victims.
True progress will come only if mediation operates in good faith, compensating survivors fully and fairly. If it stalls or minimizes harm, it will deepen the betrayal. Survivors deserve more than symbolic gestures; they deserve dignity, transparency, fairness and to be heard.
Survivors Waited Decades for This Moment
The roughly 1,700 abuse claims against the archdiocese did not appear overnight. They followed the Child Victims Act and Adult Survivors Act, which finally acknowledged what survivors have long said: Childhood sexual abuse silences victims for years, often for life.
Survivors aren’t late to speak because the abuse was inconsequential; it’s because the abuse shattered their trust, safety and self-worth and rocked their belief in a higher power. When abuse is cloaked in religious authority and secrecy, coming forward feels impossible.
These “look-back windows” didn’t open the floodgates to opportunistic lawsuits. They corrected a legal system that barred survivors from justice. The church fought that accountability for decades, locking the door that these laws finally forced open.
Institutional Protection Over Child Protection
For years, the church handled abuse claims through private compensation programs that lacked transparency. Survivors were asked to accept minimal payouts in exchange for silence, with no public acknowledgment of wrongdoing. These programs were marketed as compassionate; in practice, they managed damage and controlled the narrative.
The church’s current financial crisis is not the fault of new laws or aggressive lawyers. It’s the result of decades protecting its reputation over children’s safety, transferring abusers instead of removing them, silencing survivors instead of listening.
The cost now being paid is not just financial. It reflects years of decisions that prioritized the institution’s comfort over human lives.
Accountability Cannot Stop at the Church Door
Another obstacle to justice lies with insurance companies that refuse to meaningfully contribute to settlements despite taking decades of premiums to cover such risks. Survivors and advocates, including those in the Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation, have repeatedly called out their role in limiting accountability.
Insurers distance themselves from the very harm they were paid to insure, leaving institutions to bear visible responsibility while they retreat behind legal arguments. True accountability demands that every entity, church, insurer or corporate partner, that enabled or ignored child abuse must participate in making survivors whole.
Survivors should not be forced to accept discounted justice because corporations now feign moral outrage after years of profit.
A Step Forward, With Eyes Wide Open
The archdiocese’s decision to enter mediation may be a step forward, but it is not justice. After decades of betrayal, survivors deserve more than financial negotiations framed as compassion. They deserve acknowledgment, truth and lasting change.
Justice will not be defined by how quickly the church closes its books. It will be defined by whether survivors are believed, respected and compensated with honesty. It will be defined by whether the church opens its files, admits its failures and pays what it truly owes.
This moment calls for vigilance and courage, not just from the church, but from insurers, lawmakers and the public. Only if all choose transparency over secrecy, and genuine protection over self-preservation, can this process become something worthy of being called justice.
About Hillary Nappi
Hillary M. Nappi is a nationally recognized trial attorney and one of the country’s leading advocates for survivors of sexual assault, abuse and exploitation. She leads AWK Survivor Advocate Attorneys, the newly launched sexual-assault practice group within the Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz (AWKO) Legal Network, where she spearheads high-impact litigation on behalf of survivors nationwide.