By Daniel Payne
CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 /
11:52 am
The Archdiocese of New Orleans this week agreed to pay a massive $180 million to victims of clergy abuse there, bringing an end to years of bankruptcy proceedings in federal court and pointing to what Archbishop Gregory Aymond called “a path to healing for survivors and for our local Church.”
The law firm Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, which represented abuse victims in the proceedings, said in a press release that the sum represented “more than 20 times the archdiocese’s initial settlement estimate” when the archdiocese first filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
The settlement, if it is accepted by the abuse survivors, brings an end to almost exactly five years of bitter disputes over how the archdiocese handled sex abuse cases in the past and how it planned to compensate victims of clergy abuse now.
The process was protracted enough that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill made the unusual move last month to order the archdiocese to defend the ongoing proceedings, demanding that Church officials explain why the bankruptcy case should not be dismissed by the court.
The law firm representing the victims said this week that in addition to the multimillion-dollar settlement amount, the archdiocese will also be required to publish “perpetrator files and other abuse-related documents.”
As well, the settlement will establish “a public archive that will serve as a repository of the history of abuse” within the archdiocese. That archive will be administered by a secular college or university.
As well, the former Hope Haven orphanage just outside of New Orleans will receive a memorial to those who suffered sex abuse there. Multiple priests on the archdiocese’s list of credibly accused clergy allegedly committed abuse at that facility in the 1950s and 1960s.
In a statement on Thursday, Aymond said the settlement gave him “great hope.”
The agreement “protects our parishes and begins to bring the proceedings to a close,” the prelate said, adding: “I am grateful to God for all who have worked to reach this agreement and that we may look to the future towards a path to healing for survivors and for our local Church.”
The archbishop in the statement praised abuse victims for speaking out about what they endured.
“Please know that because of your courage in coming forward and your steadfast commitment to preventing the horrors of child sexual abuse, we are a better and stronger Church,” he said.
The settlement represents one of the larger sums in the U.S. paid out to victims of clergy sexual abuse.
The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, last month said it will pay out $150 million as part of a settlement with victims of clergy sexual abuse there.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, meanwhile, in December 2024 said a court agreed to its record abuse settlement proposal of $323 million.
The Rockville Centre sum represents the highest abuse settlement paid out by a single U.S. diocese, though the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last year said it would pay out nearly $900 million in abuse settlements, which remains the most that any part of the U.S. Church has paid in such proceedings.
Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.
