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After a six-year slog that included several setbacks, the hundreds of victims of sexual and physical abuse by local priests and others see the end of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester bankruptcy within sight.
“I have positive things in front of me,” Carol DuPré, an abuse survivor, said after a hearing in bankruptcy court Tuesday.
That hearing was the first part of a bifurcated courtroom process to confirm and approve a $246.35 million settlement that should bring the Rochester diocese bankruptcy case to a conclusion. On Sept. 5, at a session likely to have a packed courtroom, the settlement is scheduled to be finalized.
“I don’t think people should leave here today worried we won’t get this done,” Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Warren said Tuesday. In fact, he spoke of the settlement as pretty much a fait accompli, and pointed to the support from victims in a recent vote.
While not everyone returned the ballots, 466 individuals did, all in support.
“We have 100 percent acceptance, which I think is pretty amazing,” said Stephen Donato, an attorney for the diocese.
Warren added: “I don’t have any empirical data to support this, but I would say it’s unprecedented. I’ve never seen it before.”
Besieged by claims of abuse, the diocese sought bankruptcy protection with a court filing in September 2019. Like other Catholic dioceses across the state, a change in state law—passage of the Child Victims Act, or CVA—opened up new avenues for civil lawsuits alleging abuse.
Signed into law in 2019, the CVA changed statute of limitation laws that abuse survivors and advocates contended hamstrung the ability to seek justice in court with civil litigation. (CVA did not impact criminal cases.) Under CVA, victims could now sue for alleged abuse from decades before.
“The diocese filed its (bankruptcy) petition with the objective of resolving abuse claims in a fair and equitable manner and positioning the Diocese, the Parishes and Affiliates to continue their religious and charitable missions,” Bishop of Rochester Salvatore Matano wrote in a court statement filed July 26.
“The Diocese acknowledges its moral obligation to compensate all survivors of abuse by Church personnel fairly and equitably,” he added. “Given its limited resources, including limited insurance coverage, I understood that a race to the courthouse would not allow for fair and equitable compensation of all survivors of abuse.”
What’s next for victims?
More than 500 individuals have made claims against the diocese. Unless the agreement is somehow derailed—an event Warren said is highly unlikely—those payments could begin late this year. An “allocator” will decide payments after hearing specific allegations from each claimant.
“This case, in my humble opinion, will be done on Sept. 5 before noon, and then the process of distribution will begin,” Warren said.
The judge’s annoyance with some challenges from the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, including objections to arcane legal points, was evident Tuesday. The objections, Warren decided, were not legally sound. Nor, he said, did the objections consider the continued struggles of the victims.
“Why don’t you go ahead and put (the objections) on the record so I can overrule them,” Warren said Tuesday to a lawyer for the trustee’s office, who spoke via teleconference from New York City.
Many of the survivors have become allies and friends, leaning on and supporting each other, said the 78-year-old DuPré. “This is a club you never want to join, but there’s something about talking to other people,” she said.
DuPré, who lives in Spencerport, has been one of the more public and vocal survivors. She alleged that she was sexually molested by Father G. Stuart Hogan when she was 15 and 16 years old in 1962 and 1963.
The allegations arose from Hogan’s tenure at St. Gregory Church in Marion. Hogan died in 1985.
DuPré said, regardless of a settlement, she can’t forgive the diocese.
“They’ve known about it all along,” she said. “They transfer the priests. They put them in early retirement. They give them four hours of counseling, which they say is going to transform them.”
The delays
One insurance company, Continental Insurance Co., also known as CNA, was an impediment to an earlier resolution. While other diocese insurers were able to come to terms with proposed settlements, CNA remained an obstacle until this month.
CNA claimed that it had made reasonable earlier proposals, but balked at the proposed payouts that were on the table. The current settlement proposal includes $120 million from CNA, a significant increase from a $75 million offer that was once public.
The diocese and its other insurers will be responsible for the remaining money in the $246 million settlement.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy also threw a wrench into settlement talks. That decision, focused on lawsuits with the opioid manufacturer, could have left the diocese’s individual parishes—which are legally registered as separate corporations—vulnerable to abuse claims even after the diocese reached a settlement.
The Rochester diocese settlement addresses the Purdue Pharma decision by including a section that indemnifies the parishes. The overwhelming support of survivors also should make the ruling a non-issue.
“It was a unanimous decision on behalf of the survivors that voted,” said Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents nearly 100 survivors and has seen eight die during the case’s pendency. He said he can’t imagine anyone throwing a roadblock in front of the settlement.
There was an “incredible amount of resilience and relentlessness and a desire to obtain validation,” he said of the survivors. “And they are obtaining much-needed validation.”
Gary Craig is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. A retired Democrat and Chronicle reporter, he now writes on Substack.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
Accountability is only applicable with speeding tickets and parking tickets. All the serious accountabilities require lawyer and it had better be financially worthwhile. I’m sure that the financial “rewards” for the attorney are considerable. No amount of dollars and cents can make those nightmares of the victims go away. Beyond sad.
Thanks, Gary, for picking up the complex trail leading to a settlement. The late Will Astor had been following the case with great diligence until his death and we at the Beacon are grateful that this portion of Will’s legacy was not abandoned.
Since I’m the one being quoted, I just want to say that forgiveness is a vital part of my walk with the Lord. I don’t want what I said about not forgiving the diocese to be misunderstood. They are held accountable for not doing anything about the abuses each of us endured, knowing full well that it DID happen. I MUST forgive them because I don’t want them to put a stranglehold on my spiritual and emotional self. But they were dead wrong in hiding and not taking accountability and I personally do not believe their “apology” is genuine. They simply got caught.
I am a survivor of a pedophile priest from the Rochester Archdioces . I grew up in the Orthodox faith of Catholicism. Oue priest could be married. I had complete faith and trust in my priest. I was an alter boy. My circumstances changed. And I became part of a Catholic Church in the Rochester area. Being still barely a teen. I had complete trust and faith in my new priest. I didn’t realize the differences from Orthodox Catholicism. To main stream Catholicism. His grooming of me started very slowly. Times alone increased, the occasional hand on my shoulder. Then my thigh. Leading to eventual oral rape , Sodomy and every other deviant form of sex . This sick pedophile could perform on me. He had me convinced it was God’s will. My childhood innocence was destroyed, my belief in God. My trust in any adult in a position of authority. Religious or otherwise. I did not trust anyone. I blamed myself. The self hatred and loathing I experienced was all consuming Constant nightmares. Leading me down some very dark roads. Drug and alcohol abuse in attempts to kill the memories. The source of my pain. Fifty six years went by until I finally talked about it with someone. This eventually led me toward the light. I began to understand it was not my fault. The self loathing and nightmares began to subside a little. Then the law changed and I was Abel to seek some justice and validation of the suffering id been through because of this lawsuit. Even though the priest was long dead. Little did I know what lay ahead. Having to relieve this life long nightmare through depositions, interviews and the dragging out of this law suit over the years. Ripped away any healing that occurred. I felt like I was being revictomised all over again. The delay tactics of CNA the lies of the Archdioces, and their greed is abhorrent. These people are evil incarnate. They could take back every dollar if I could only see that pedophile in prison. But that’s not to be. So I have to find my justice, and vindication through this law suit. Maybe now the real healing can begin. And my nightmares will begin to lessen again. I’m no longer a victim.