The settlement between the Diocese of Camden, which encompasses six counties from southern New Jersey to the outskirts of Philadelphia, and the plaintiffs was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden on Tuesday.
The settlement must still be submitted to a US bankruptcy judge. If approved, the settlement would top the nearly $85 million settlement in 2003 in the Boston clergy abuse scandal, though that’s less than other settlements in California and Oregon.
“I want to express my sincere apologies to all those who have been affected by sexual abuse in our diocese,” Bishop Dennis Sullivan said in a statement. “My prayers go out to all survivors of abuse and I pledge my continued commitment to ensure that this terrible chapter in the history of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey never happens again.”
Details of what allegedly happened to the approximately 300 victims were not included in the proposed settlement, according to an attorney for some 70 of the victims.
“This settlement with the Bishop of Camden is a major breakthrough in accountability,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing 74 of the approximately 300 survivors. “Credit goes to the survivors for standing up for themselves and standing up for the truth.”
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The alleged sexual abuse occurred from the 1950s through the 1990s, Anderson said, but mostly took place in the 1960s and 1970s.
The diocese said the agreement provides for the creation of a trust, which will be funded over four years by the diocese and “related Catholic entities” to compensate victims of sexual abuse. Part of the agreement also requires maintaining or “strengthening” protocols to protect children.
Abuse survivors who filed a claim in bankruptcy could get $290,000, according to victims’ attorneys Jay Mascolo and Jason Amala.
The agreement comes more than two years after New Jersey expanded the window of its civil statute of limitations to allow victims of sexual abuse by priests to seek legal compensation. The legislation allows child victims to sue until age 55 or within seven years of first becoming aware that the abuse has harmed them. The previous statute of limitations was 20 years or two years after first realizing that the abuse had caused harm.
The diocese, like others across the country, had filed for bankruptcy amid a torrent of lawsuits — up to 55, according to court records — stemming from the relaxation of the statute of limitations.
In 2019, New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses listed more than 180 priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over a span of decades, joining more than two dozen other states that have named alleged attackers following a landmark grand jury report. in Pennsylvania in 2018.
Many priests on the lists had died and others were removed from ministry.
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