Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Diocese of Brooklyn
New York: Amid the chaos, allegations, and fear of humiliation, the Catholic Church in New York has now reached a record breaking settlement of $27.5 million with four men who said that they were victims of child sex abuse. The statement was given out by the victims’ attorneys on September 19.
The victims were said to be between the ages of 8 and 12 years at that time. The year that they were sexually abused is known to be between 2003 and 2009.
Breaking the sum, each of the four victims is said to get $6.87 million. Attorney Ben Rubinowitz said, “This stands as the largest settlement till date.”
He added by saying, “In the case that was prolonged with legalities, we are glad to see that the church is being finally brought to justice.”
Though the complaint was filed in the year 2012, due to legal procedures, the trial before the court was in 2019. Ben Rubinowitz said that the church officials refused to comment at first. “More than that, it is important to know that the four victims were brought to a settlement and the civil complaint settled before the trial in 2019”, he said.
In 2009, religion teacher Angelo Serrano (67) was arrested on the charges of molesting a child. He was sentenced to jail for 15 years after being found guilty.
Serrano was not appointed as a priest but employed by the St. Lucy-St. Patrik little parish. “The Diocese has maintained a distance from Serrano after knowing the charges. Thus it was agreed to pay the victims based on these grounds”, said Rubinowitz.
Another lawyer Peter Saghir said that in the complaint registered on the child sex abuse, a church priest was also targeted. He has now admitted that he had seen Serrano kissing a child on the mouth one day.
“They decided that, rather than risk a trial, it was time for them to make a payment”, he said.
According to the previous records, a record payment of $3.4 million was made to two of the victims of Matthew Maiello of New York. This is according to the website BishopAccountability.org.
The news of the settlement came as several US states, worried by a report in August detailing decades of sexual abuse involving more than 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, are looking into historic abuse cases in their own jurisdictions. The report was out in August.
The church was also rocked by the resignation of US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in July. Theodre was also an influential bishop of Washington He was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.
