Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is responding to criticism of its plan to cover the costs of a $150 million settlement with clergy abuse survivors.
Parishes will be responsible for $80 million of that settlement. The Diocese says it has wrapped up meetings with parish leaders outlining how that money will be collected. The Diocese says it will draw from parishes' unrestricted cash and investments, which doesn't include prepaid tuition, Mass offerings and donor-restricted gifts.
That plan has come under scrutiny since it was announced on June 9, especially from Nandor Forgach, a parishioner at St. Benedict's. He's spoken to WBEN multiple times since the Diocese announced how much parishes will have to contribute.
Forgach has been particularly critical of the amount St. Leo the Great in Amherst must contribute.
"We're being asked to pay about $1.987 million to the settlement fund itself, which, again, you take a look at how that's broken out amongst our family... St. Leo's church, which was the parish of Msgr. [Robert] Zapfel, who's the vicar of our Northern part of the Diocese, is paying less than 1% of what we're owing," Forgach told WBEN on Monday.
The Buffalo Catholic Diocese is aware of those comments. In a statement Monday, Diocesan COO Richard Suchan said:
"We recognize that some parishes will see the disparity of settlement contribution levels as somehow unfair. What is important to understand is that the unrestricted cash position of parishes varies greatly, as well the fact that parishes identified for closure and merger with other parish families are naturally assessed at a higher level."
Regarding St. Leo's, the Diocese says they'll continue to listen to questions about the church only owing $17,000 toward the settlement, and will make any adjustments if necessary.
Below is the formula used by the Buffalo Diocese to determine parish contributions. The dollar amount represents a parish's unrestricted funds, followed by the percentage of those funds that can be used to pay for the settlement:
- Less than $250,000/10%
- Less than $500,000/25%
- Less than $750,000/45%
- Less than $1,000,000/55%
- More than $1,000,000/65%
- More than $3,000,000/75%
- Merging or closing parishes/80%
The Diocese will speak to the media Wednesday.
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