20-06-2025
Parishes in Buffalo to contribute millions of dollars to sexual abuse settlement
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Parishes in the Buffalo Diocese are starting to find out how much money they will have to hand over to help pay off millions of dollars in sexual abuse cases. For some churches, the amounts are crippling.
WIVB News 4 has learned the amount a few parishes have to pay. Saint Joseph University Parish has to contribute $1.1 million while Saint Timothy Parish in Tonawanda is being asked to pay almost $5.2 million.
Mary Pruski, with Save Our Buffalo Churches, says this is asking too much from the people in the pews, especially victims who are still active in the church.
'I had a couple of the victims give me a call the last couple of days and say they've been able to heal from this devastating experience in their life,' she said. 'Now they're being asked to pay toward their own settlement. They said, 'This is so wrong.''
Last week, the Diocese of Buffalo announced its request for parishes to contribute a total of $80 million toward the $150 million it agreed to pay in April to settle over 800 claims of sexual abuse.
'This is asking too much of the people in the pews, be it the victims, or the regular parishioners,' Pruski said. 'They're making us all victims and there's other ways to raise this money.'
Contributions from parishes range from 10% to 80% based on a 'progressive percentage' of each parish's self-reported and unrestricted assets as of August 2024.
'They're just digging a hole for the parish to go in,' Pruski said. 'That's what they're doing, taking all their money and they're just gasping for air in order to stay solvent when you take that much money from them.'
The Diocese of Buffalo said details of settlement allocation methodology were shared with parish leaders in meetings held over a week before percentage contributions were determined.
'What is important to understand is that the unrestricted cash position of parishes varies greatly, as well the fact that parishes identified for closure and merger with other parish families are naturally assessed at a higher level,' said Richard Suchan, diocesan chief operating officer. 'This has been discussed extensively with our priests and parish leaders as an essential approach for fulfilling our obligation to the Creditors' Committee, and to bring healing to survivors.'
Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.
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