The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to an $800 million settlement to resolve claims from roughly 1,300 survivors who reported suffering sexual abuse by priests and church staff, church officials and attorneys announced Saturday.
The landmark agreement, first reported by The New York Times, represents the second-largest legal payout involving a Catholic archdiocese in the United States. It resolves more than seven years of legal battles that were sparked when New York lawmakers changed state law to allow older victims of childhood sexual assault to file lawsuits.
Agreement Awaits Signatures in November
Archbishop Ronald Hicks confirmed the arrangement in a Saturday message sent to archdiocesan clergy, stating that the agreement is scheduled to be formally signed the week of Nov. 6. All participating claimants must finalize their paperwork before the payout goes forward, ABC News reported.
Under the terms, each plaintiff will have the choice to take a lump-sum award of at least $250,000, according to the reports. Larger payouts remain possible following an individual evaluation of the severity and circumstances of the abuse reported by the victims.
Attorneys told clients that if the group failed to endorse the agreement, the archdiocese would seek bankruptcy protection, which would have substantially delayed payments and likely decreased total compensation, according to the New York Post. The Catholic dioceses of Albany, Rochester, and Rockville Centre have previously turned to bankruptcy courts after facing a deluge of abuse claims.
Second-Largest Deal in U.S. Church History
The New York settlement trails only an $880 million agreement struck by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024, which resolved claims from 1,000 victims after earlier settlements totaling $740 million. Other major church payouts include a $395 million agreement by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in June and an approved deal of at least $230 million by the Archdiocese of New Orleans in December 2025.
Jeff Anderson, an attorney who represents hundreds of claimants in the New York cases, praised the survivors’ determination in securing the agreement.
“Through their courage, sacrifice, and determination, survivors have helped bring about a reckoning and a meaningful step toward accountability,” Anderson said in a statement.
In his letter to priests, Hicks said the archdiocese is “on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors.” He added that finalizing the claims will permit the church to refocus on charitable and educational work across its territory.
Years of Legal Reform and Fallout
The lawsuits followed a 2019 state statute that expanded the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, permitting victims to bring civil suits until age 55. The legislation also opened a temporary window, which closed in August 2021, that allowed older accusers to sue regardless of when the alleged abuse took place, ABC News reported.
The Archdiocese of New York serves 2.5 million Catholics across Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, and seven counties to the north. To fund the settlement, the archdiocese previously entered mediation, trimmed personnel, and announced intentions to sell certain Manhattan real estate holdings to raise $300 million toward survivor payments, according to NPR.
Attorneys expect the formal paperwork to be executed in early November, ending protracted litigation without the need for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
