The Diocese of Camden, in southern New Jersey, agreed to pay $74.5 million dollars to resolve sexual abuse claims filed by hundreds of people against members of the clergy.
This is one of the largest settlements involving the Catholic Church in the United States , highlighted The New York Times. “In what may be the first of such litigation, the final payment to the plaintiffs could be substantially higher, the lawyers representing them said, because the agreement allows for more litigation against the insurance companies of the diocese and related entities such as parishes and schools.”
The agreement will indemnify some 300 victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by religious over the decades 1970 Y 1980. “This agreement announced on Tuesday joins a long list of precedents in the United States, where the Catholic Church has been the object of investigations and revelations about sexual abuse for years,” the AFP agency said.
The Diocese of Camden filed for bankruptcy in 2020 to pay compensation to the victims and subsequently released the names of the 56 priests and a deacon accused “credibly of sexual abuse of minors”.
The money will be delivered to a fund that will be responsible for compensating those affected. According to one of the victims’ lawyers, Jeff Anderson, it is a “partial agreement” that leaves open the possibility for the victims to resort to justice “against the insurance companies” that represent the diocese and that “have been refused to fulfill its obligations”.
He said that the agreement also provides for “measures to protect minors” and the “diocese will have the obligation to publicly disclose the history of the abuses perpetrated”.
According to a classification made by the page Bishop-Accountability.org, it is one of the highest sums that are granted to compensate the victims. Only four agreements exceeded 100 million dollars since the beginning of the years 2000.
Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan expressed in a statement his “sincere apologies to all who were victims of sexual abuse in our diocese” and reiterated his commitment so that “this terrible chapter (…) never happens again”.
In September, Nicholas DiMarzio, bishop of Brooklyn (NYC) resigned from the church and his request was accepted by Pope Francis, weeks after a Vatican investigation exonerated him from allegations of sexual abuse allegedly committed in the 1980s 56s.
At the beginning of 2019, the five New Jersey Catholic dioceses released the names of nearly 200 priests and deacons accused of abusing sexually of children, including former Archbishop of Newark, Theodore McCarrick, and Hispanic priests. The list can be consulted here: Of the 188 names published, more than 100 were already dead.