New York Archdiocese Agrees to $800 Million Settlement With 1,300 Abuse Survivors

The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800 million to resolve the legal claims of roughly 1,300 people who were sexually abused by clergy, ending years of negotiations with lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks said on Saturday that the settlement is due to be formally signed on November 6, following an agreement with the plaintiffs and their attorneys. He announced the news in an email to priests, which the archdiocese's news outlet later shared.

"We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors," Hicks wrote. He added that the deal would let the archdiocese turn its full attention back to its mission of "preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, caring for the poor and needy, welcoming the stranger, and educating our children."

The New York Times, which first reported the story, said each of the approximately 1,300 survivors will receive at least $250,000 from the archdiocese. Some could receive more, depending on the severity of the abuse they suffered.

The agreement is the second-largest of its kind in the country. Only an $880 million settlement reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024 was larger.

Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who represents people behind more than 1,000 claims against the Catholic Church in New York state, welcomed the outcome. "The unanimous agreement of survivors who filed claims against the Archdiocese of New York marks a powerful moment in the pursuit of justice," he said in a statement. He added that through their "courage, sacrifice, and determination," survivors had helped bring about a reckoning and "a meaningful step toward accountability."

The settlement comes as the Catholic Church in the United States remains mired in abuse scandals that began to surface in the early 2000s. Media investigations during that decade revealed that priests had sexually abused thousands of children over several decades. They also showed that church leaders had often covered up the cases or moved offending priests rather than reporting them to civil authorities.

Dioceses across the country have since paid hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, and compensation programmes have been set up to pay survivors without the need for a trial. In June, the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced an agreement to pay $395 million to about 530 survivors of abuse by its clergy to settle their lawsuits.