Stunned pastors were summoned to an all hands meeting by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in which they were told that despite real estate selloffs and cost cutting, the $300 million fund to pay off past victims of sexual abuse by priests and lay personnel was still hundreds of millions of dollars short of what is needed to reach a global settlement.
That woefully underfunding comes despite real estate selloff of over $800 million over the past two years.
Collectively the pastors, who head up about 200 parishes, were told at the meeting that they will have to dip into their own parish coffers to collectively raise hundreds of millions more–perhaps as much as $400 million more. If the parishes cannot meet the goal, the…