NEW YORK, NY, February 12, 2026 – SNAP condemns the Diocese of Brooklyn’s intention to pursue a global resolution of all of its approximately 1,100 remaining cases. This effort to settle more than a thousand cases in one fell swoop is merely a mechanism designed to block accountability through the courts, shielding church records from disclosure and church officials from sworn testimony. 

SNAP rejects Bishop Robert J. Brennan’s premise that summary resolution will protect victim-survivors from the strain of individual court cases. This effort’s true aim is one of damage control, capping liability and suppressing the full truth about decades of abuse and cover-up. 

The legal process of summary settlements shuts out survivors entirely from being heard, compounding their trauma and forcing them through mass dismissal. Survivors are reduced to claim numbers, their testimony muted, and their pain negotiated behind closed doors. SNAP stands in unwavering solidarity with all those harmed in New York, those who have long been waiting for accountability only to see proceedings that prioritize the institution’s assets over human dignity and no path to justice.

“Global settlement cannot repair the trauma inflicted by sexual abuse or decades of institutional cover-up,” said Angela Walker, SNAP’s Executive Director. “Courts must hold the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York fully accountable under the law. Survivors deserve more than summary settlements – they deserve justice, transparency, and consequences for institutions that permitted clergy to commit devastating acts of sexual violence with impunity.”

SNAP Survivors Network is the world’s oldest and largest community of survivors of clergy and institutional sexual abuse. Through public action and peer support, SNAP is building a future where no institution is beyond justice and no survivor stands alone. Our global community works to end sexual abuse in faith-based organizations by transforming laws, institutions, and lives.