Seventy-nine victim-survivors of sexual abuse by clergy have settled their claims and received compensation totaling $10,922,500 through the Diocese of Syracuse’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP), the diocese has announced.
The Catholic Sun asked the diocese’s Chancellor and Director of Communications Danielle Cummings and its Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer John Barsanti about how the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program will be funded.
In the days preceding the announcement of the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, the Catholic Sun was able to submit questions about the program to Bishop Cunningham. The answers he provided follow.
Bishop Cunningham celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Feb. 14, 2018, the day the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program was announced. The following is the prepared text of the homily he delivered at that Mass.
“Today I announce the establishment of an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) here in the Diocese of Syracuse. The IRCP is designed to offer reparation, promote reconciliation, and further healing to those individuals who have been sexually abused by members of our clergy.”
In the coming weeks and months, spiritual and physical support will be offered to those in need thanks to a man who as a child was abused by a priest of the diocese.
Since the announcement of the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, 79 individuals have been sent claim packets inviting them to participate, according to Diocese of Syracuse Chancellor and Director of Communications Danielle Cummings.
The Diocese of Syracuse has launched an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program “designed to offer reparation, promote reconciliation, and further healing to those individuals who, in the past, have been sexually abused by members of our diocesan clergy,” Bishop Robert J. Cunningham announced at a press conference at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Feb. 14.
