New York, NY (New York Post) The cost of settling with victims of its perverted clergymen has ballooned to more than $67 million, but the Archdiocese of New York no longer has any priests or deacons with substantiated claims of abusing minors against them, an outside reviewer announced on Monday.
The archdiocese has also adopted “sound and effective” policies to screen and monitor more than 30,000 employees and volunteers who deal with kids, according to former federal Judge Barbara Jones.
“I am encouraged by what I’ve seen and I have confidence that the archdiocese will continue in the commitment that it has, and has demonstrated thus far, to the safety of children,” Jones said during a news conference at The Catholic Center at NYU in Manhattan.
Jones was hired by the archdiocese last year to conduct a yearlong review of its protocols for handling sexual misconduct allegations and examine its records from the past 25 years.
Lawyer Jeff Herman, who said he represented dozens of clients who got settlements from the archdiocese, said, “The fact that they are proud that they don’t have priests on staff that they know are currently molesting kids is nothing to be bragging about … It should always be that way.”
