NYC Catholic Church Seeks $100 Million Loan To Pay Sex Abuse Victims

NEW YORK, NY — The Archdiocese of New York has petitioned a Manhattan state court to approve a loan so the church can begin compensating victims who were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests.

The church has a $100 million mortgage for one of its Manhattan properties in place with JPMorgan Chase but needs the court's approval under New York state law to enact it, Joseph Zwilling, Director of the Office of Communications for the Archdiocese, said.

Unlike most mortgages, the money won't go toward purchasing or improving property; it will go toward funding a compensation program for the victims of sex abuse, Reuters reported. In October, the archdiocese announced it would begin taking out loans to pay people abused by priests, according to the report.

"Because we have begun the process of paying out the compensation to victims, the archdiocese has taken this short-term loan to cover the payments," Zwilling told Reuters.

The archdiocese will look to take out long-term loans later this year when it has a better understanding of how much compensation money will be paid out, Zwilling told Reuters.

In all, 144 people filed reports during the first phase of the program, according to Zwilling — and out of those, 44 have accepted compensation offers.

The second phase of the program — called the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program — began Wednesday, March 1. During this phase, church officials launch an outreach effort in an attempt to locate potential victims who have yet to come forward with sex-abuse claims.

Since the program is not restricted by a statute of limitations, the Archdiocese will be able to settle abuse cases dating back "10, 20, 40 years," Zwilling told Patch. The Archdiocese is relying on the media, he said, to raise awareness about the campaign.

Read the full Reuters article here.

Photo by Ed Schipul via Flickr/Creative Commons