Catholic Archdiocese of New York lays off workers due to undisclosed financial pressures

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Monday, November 18, 2024

St. Patrick's Cathedral of New York City, New York. | The Christian Post

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has laid off several workers due to budget issues and financial settlements over sex abuse claims.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the Archdiocese, announced earlier this month that the diocese is laying off 18 employees as part of a financial restructuring of the regional body.

The financial reorganization, which also includes selling the Cardinal Cooke Building in New York City, which has served as the Archdiocese's headquarters, was due to "undisclosed financial pressures," The National Catholic Reporter reports.

Such pressures are believed to include an overall decline in donations, especially in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, as well as ongoing financial settlements related to the Catholic Church clergy sex abuse scandal.

"I am grateful for the service of all those whose positions are being eliminated," Dolan wrote in a letter to the archdiocesan staff, according to NCR. "Such decisions are never easy, but the current financial crunch the archdiocese faces, and the upcoming move to our new offices in 2025, make this the appropriate time to make some tough decisions."

Following sale of the Cooke Building, the regional body's staff and leadership plan to move into a smaller office space located near St. Patrick's Cathedral.

In 2019, New York passed a law known as the Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases from one to five years after a person turned 18 to when a person turns 55.

"For a long time, it has been recognized that it is very difficult for survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward or even come to terms with the trauma until many years later," states the New York City Bar Legal Referral Service.

"As a result, many survivors could not pursue a claim for damages because the one (1) to five (5) time period expired by the time they were ready — emotionally and otherwise — to bring a claim for money damages."

Earlier this year, the archdiocese filed a complaint against its insurer Chubb, Ltd, for the company's refusal to provide coverage for paying sex abuse claims, alleging that they violated state business law.

"Chubb, for decades our primary insurance company, even though we have paid them over $2 billion in premium by today's standards, is now attempting to evade their legal and moral contractual obligation to settle covered claims which would bring peace and healing to victim-survivors," stated Dolan in a letter to parishioners last month.

"In legal documents, Chubb has abandoned its archdiocese and parish policy holders and those people such policies were purchased to protect, the survivors of child sexual abuse."

In a statement shared with media, Chubb has accused the archdiocese of covering up child sexual abuse for decades and refusing to compensate victims. Additionally, Chubb claimed that the archdiocese witheld information about its knoweldge of the abuse. The statement alleges the archdiocese is "attempting to shift responsibility for its actions onto insurers but won't turn over information regarding what it knew about the abuse."

"Further, they have concealed their vast wealth and hidden assets," Chubb's statement reads. "This is just another financial maneuver by the Archdiocese to deflect, hide and avoid responsibility."

Dolan wrote in October that the regional body has settled over 400 abuse cases via their Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program and another 123 via the Child Victims Act but still has around 1,400 cases remaining to be resolved.