NEW YORK, December 17, 2025 – SNAP condemns the Archdiocese of New York’s abuse settlement fund as a mechanism designed to block accountability through the courts, shielding church records from disclosure and church officials from sworn testimony. Under Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a $300 million fund uses desperately needed but inadequate compensation as damage control, capping liability and suppressing the full truth about decades of abuse and cover-up.

Throughout his career in St. Louis, Milwaukee, and New York, Cardinal Dolan has become known as a chief architect of strategies designed to withhold justice by sealing records, narrowing survivors’ access to the courts, and protecting church officials who facilitated abuse. That legacy is how he will be remembered by survivors.

The legal processes tied to these settlements compound survivors’ trauma – forcing them through prolonged, dehumanizing proceedings that prioritize the institution’s assets over human dignity. Survivors are reduced to claim numbers, their testimony constrained, and their pain negotiated behind closed doors. SNAP stands in unwavering solidarity with all those harmed in New York, those who participated in these processes and those who were shut out entirely.

Adding insult to injury, Cardinal Dolan now passes leadership to Bishop Ron Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, another Catholic leader with a documented record of concealing abuse, allowing accused predators to remain in ministry, and obstructing justice. This handoff underscores a pattern of continuity by the Vatican.

“No amount of money can repair the trauma inflicted by sexual abuse or decades of institutional cover-up,” said Angela Walker, SNAP’s Executive Director. “Courts must hold the Archdiocese of New York fully accountable under the law. Survivors deserve more than settlements – they deserve justice, transparency, and consequences for institutions that permitted clergy to commit devastating acts of sexual violence with impunity.”