BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian said Wednesday that 13 of his clients -- all victims of sexual abuse by Buffalo Diocese priests -- have been offered settlements with the diocese.
The settlements deal with priest abuse from about 1959 to 1988 and the amounts range from $10,000 to $340,000, Garabedian said.
"Many victims, in hopes of trying to turn at least one page of the pain, are willing to accept the settlement offers while other victims feel re-victimized by the settlement offers and the impersonal nature of the program set up by Bishop Malone and lack of transparency and will reject the offers," Garabedian said.
He added, "All clergy sexual victims realize that the Catholic Church, in implementing the compensation program, is trying to sweep the clergy sexual abuse matter under the rug, trying to deceptively send a positive message to the court of public opinion and dissuade decision makers from amending the statute of limitations."
Garabedian noted that according to the latest Official Catholic Directory, the Buffalo Diocese has 288 Diocesan priests and 97 religious order priests in ministry, which to him shows that "the number of sexual abuse victims who have not come forward is unquestionably enormous."
The settlement offers include alleged abuse by the following priests, and the table below made by Garabedian for the first time sheds light on when the abuse is alleged to have taken place and at which parishes.
