Latest news with #DioceseofBuffalo
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Yahoo
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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Diocese of Buffalo addresses parishioners' concerns amid settlement
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Leaders within the Diocese of Buffalo are addressing parishioners' concerns after many have spoken out against having their parish pay into the clergy sex abuse settlement. Parishes throughout the Diocese have to contribute between 10 to 80 percent of unrestricted assets for a combined total of $80 million toward the $150 million settlement, which has upset many Catholics. Parishes in Buffalo to contribute millions of dollars to sexual abuse settlement 'We understand their recoil, that some may be outraged, but again, this is not something that is solely the responsibility of clergy members,' said Richard Suchan, the Diocese of Buffalo's CEO. 'It involves teachers, it involves employees and volunteers of parishes and schools, in addition to other organizations and schools. It does become our responsibility as a church to fulfill this obligation.' WIVB News 4 did a sit down interview with Suchan to bring parishioner concerns directly to leaders in the Diocese. Many parishioners are upset that their donations to their parish could now be going toward the settlement. Suchan said they are not using prepaid tuition payments or donations that were given for a specific purpose. He said donations made during mass are considered an unrestricted gift, meaning those donations could be used toward the settlement, but Suchan said those funds usually go toward operating costs to maintain a parish. Some parishioners reached out to News 4 and said they want to know how the Diocese calculated what each parish will pay. Some Catholics wanted to know why their parish was paying more than other parishes. When deciding how much each parish will contribute to the settlement, Suchan said they took into consideration how much a parish makes, saying the more a parish makes, the more it will pay. 'I was shocked': Parishioners left shaken as parishes pay millions toward sexual abuse settlement He said the same formula was used with each parish and emphasized each parishes' finances were calculated the same way. All parishes will have to make their contributions to the settlement by July 15. 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Yahoo
‘I was shocked': Parishioners left shaken as parishes pay millions toward sexual abuse settlement
BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) — People's faith in the Diocese of Buffalo is shaken after finding out their parishes will have to pay millions of dollars toward $150 million total to settle over 800 claims of sexual abuse. Ascension Parish in Batavia is being asked to pay more than $1 million. Parishioners Bill and Nancy Brach said they're upset and that this isn't the solution. Diocese of Buffalo asks parishes to pay $80M toward $150M settlement 'These were every spaghetti dinner, and the chicken BBQ and special donations that we've had over the years and it was all donated to maintain this parish,' Bill said. The Brachs, along with members of Save Our Buffalo Churches, have been fighting to keep their church open after the Diocese announced it was slated to close. The couple is still holding out hope. Their faith in the Diocese's leadership is being tested. 'It's a mess, even if they were doing the bankruptcy and settlement and all that and then down the road we'll look at the road to renewal, but when they're closing churches and merging churches and chasing people away and then taking all the money. Wow,' Bill said. 'We're wondering if they're going to have anyone left to go to church,' Nancy said. Contributions from parishes range from 10% to 80%, based on each parish's self-reported and unrestricted assets as of August 2024. Sally Tanner, who attends Queen of Heaven Church in West Seneca, said her church is expected to pay $3.4 million in the settlement. 'I was shocked,' Tanner said. She has been donating to her church for years and is heartbroken that there is a chance those donations are going toward the settlement. 'I've already paid for it, so I can't say I'm not paying a dime, which I would like to do, but I've already paid,' she said. 'I've paid for sins I didn't commit.' Tanner said despite all this, she's not going to turn her back on her church or her faith. 'I can't not support my church,' she said. 'I'm not going to leave the Catholic faith. I'm not going to leave my church.' The Brachs worry other Catholics won't be as forgiving. Parishes in Buffalo to contribute millions of dollars to sexual abuse settlement 'There are those that stay home and watch it on TV,' Bill said. 'There are people who switched to other denominations in town and worst of all, there are people who just stopped going all together.' 'I think they feel betrayed,' Nancy said. 'It's sad, the money is one thing, but when you lose trust in the church leadership, that's the hard thing for a lot of people,' Bill said. 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Diocese of Buffalo announces 2 education department appointments
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Diocese of Buffalo on Wednesday announced two new appointments to its Catholic education department. Father Steven Jekielek, the Vicar Forane of the Niagara/Orleans Vicariate, was named as the deparment's finance manager and Michael Baumann, the chief operating officer at Cardinal O'Hara High School, was appointed the human resources manager. Jekielek started his role in April and before priesthood, he worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Grand Island for 19 years. Baumann will start in July. He was previously the superintendent of schools at Newfane Central Schools and an assistant superintendent at the Sweet Home Central School District. Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Survivors of sexual abuse react to Buffalo Diocese's $150M settlement
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Survivors of the sexual abuse reportedly carried out by members of the Diocese of Buffalo reacted to the Diocese's agreement to pay $150 million to settle over 800 claims of sexual abuse. Their reactions followed a federal court hearing regarding the settlement that took place on Tuesday in downtown Buffalo and took years to reach. One survivor said he was disappointed and doesn't believe the church took enough accountability, while others said no amount of money will truly heal them from what they went through. Gary Astridge, who said he was sexually abused for four years when he was a child, addressed reporters after the hearing. He said he still carries the trauma with him. 'When someone like me says, 'Yeah, I'm a survivor of sex abuse,' people can take that at face value and say, 'Oh wow, that's terrible, I'm so sorry,'' Astridge said. 'But the reality is, you don't really know and it's like. Do you really want to hear the story of what happened to me? Do you really want to know? It's disgusting.' He said that after five years of litigation and legal fees, the settlement offer is a slap in the face and an insult to survivors. 'It's not money that's gonna change anybody's lives and from the way we were damaged as people, myself specifically, being a child and being sexually abused and raped from the ages of 7 to 11,' Astridge said. 'It affects you through your whole life.' Richard Brownell, another survivor who was at the hearing, was also disappointed and said the settlement is taking way too long. He also doesn't believe the church has done everything that it could to settle in a timely manner. 'I always call us victims, because we're victims, so we're here, but we're victims of what the church allotted,' Brownell said. 'They knew what was going on. That's it. Ruined a lot of people's lives. That's a fact.' Another survivor, Kevin Brun, said he hopes the settlement brings some people closure, but for him, it doesn't. 'To me, it's a shallow offer,' Brun said. 'It's low and I'll leave it up to my fellow survivors to form their own opinions and hopefully it brings closure to some people. It hasn't brought closure to me.' Attorneys for the survivors said that although money doesn't make the pain go away, they have seen it bring closure to some people. 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
