Rockville Centre N.Y. Catholic diocese files for bankruptcy, amid sex-abuse cases, coronavirus

The Catholic diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a result of the clergy sex-abuse cases. 

The diocese, which said the pandemic has added to its financial problems, is the eighth largest diocese or archdiocese in the U.S. It serves more than 1.4 million Catholics on Long Island, and the latest of 20 Catholic dioceses to file for bankruptcy in the face of sex-abuse lawsuits. 

“The financial burden of the litigation has been severe and only compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bishop John Barres said in a video posted on the diocese’s website. “Our goal is to make sure that all clergy sexual abuse survivors and not just a few who were first to file lawsuits are afforded just and equitable compensation.”

Barres said more than 200 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy members have been filed against the diocese since the 2019 passage of New York’s Child Victims Act, which suspended the statute of limitations to allow sex-abuse victims to pursue decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers and other adults.

The diocese started an independent compensation program in 2017 to provide settlements for victims of past abuse and has so far paid more than $62 million to 350 survivors under the program.