The Archdiocese of New York may be going bankrupt. The shocking news stunned pastors who were summoned to a recent emergency, all-hands meeting in which they were told that, despite real estate selloffs and cost cutting, the $300 million fund to pay off past victims of sexual abuse by priests and lay personnel was still hundreds of millions of dollars short of what is needed to reach a global settlement.
That woeful underfunding comes despite the Diocese having sold off over $800 million worth of real estate over the past two years. Pastors received the devastating news on April 17 at the sprawling 40-acre St. Joseph College and Seminary in Yonkers, NY
Collectively the pastors, who head up about 200 parishes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven upstate counties, were told at the meeting that they will have to dip into their own parish coffers to collectively raise hundreds of millions more–perhaps as much as $400 million more. If the parishes cannot meet the goal, the pastors were told, the archdiocese itself would be forced into bankruptcy.
”That is the nuclear option,” said one pastor, referring to the bankruptcy option. “It would be a disaster for the archdiocese.”
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