New York Archdiocese announces staff cuts, ministry restructuring due to abuse payouts

By Gina Christian, OSV News

(OSV News) -- The Archdiocese of New York has announced staff cuts and a major revamp of its pastoral offices, as it sheds its longtime headquarters building and wrestles in court with its insurer to cover abuse claim payouts.

In a Nov. 8 letter, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York told the faithful that the archdiocese had begun "a restructuring of its pastoral offices," following a monthslong "examination of these pastoral ministries and offices" initiated by the cardinal and directed by the archdiocesan vicar general.

"As a result of this study and consultation, several offices and responsibilities are being merged, and a number of programs and ministries returned to a more local and parish-based focus," said Cardinal Dolan in the letter.

He said that "many of the pastoral office programs will now operate on more of a parish or local level," an arrangement that "responds to a long-standing preference expressed by our priests and auxiliary bishops."

That approach also aligns with Pope Francis' call for synodality, which envisions that "the Church should not operate 'top-down" but instead be 'bottom-up,' listening to the voice of the people of God," said Cardinal Dolan.

He did not specify in his message which pastoral offices would close, and the archdiocese did not respond to OSV News' query on that point.

However, cultural ministries would appear to be included in the restructuring, with the cardinal stating that priest chaplains for the archdiocese's various ethnic and cultural communities, including the "different African, Asian, Hispanic and Latino communities," will be "responsible for organizing special Masses and celebrations, and responding to each community's unique pastoral needs."

The restructuring has "resulted in regrettable lay-offs for some workers" at the archdiocese's main building -- which has been sold -- "and elsewhere around the Archdiocese," he said.

Admitting that "such decisions are never easy," Cardinal Dolan said that the cuts and decision-making were necessitated by "the current financial crunch the archdiocese faces, and the upcoming move to our new offices in 2025."

While the cardinal did not say how many staff members had been let go, media reports indicated that 18 staffers, or 4% of the archdiocesan administration, had been released.

He said that some reduction in administrative staff has already been "achieved primarily through attrition," with open positions assessed "to see if they can be absorbed by others before deciding whether or not to hire a replacement."

As part of the restructuring, parishes will be able to apply for ministry grants funded by "a good portion" of the money saved through the cuts, said Cardinal Dolan, describing the process, the details of which are "still being worked out," as "a more effective and efficient use of our resources."

Cardinal Dolan stressed that "the restructuring is not a one-time event," but part of an ongoing evaluation of "how we are operating and asking if there is a better way forward."

The archdiocese continues to grapple with raising funds to settle abuse claims. In a move first announced by Cardinal Dolan in January, the archdiocese confirmed to OSV Newsin October that it had recently sold its longtime headquarters, the Terence Cardinal Cooke Building site at 1011 First Avenue in Manhattan. The Vanbarton Group, a boutique real estate investment firm, acquired the site for more than $100 million, with an eye to redeveloping it as residential rental units.

Many of the archdiocesan offices will move to a smaller space adjacent to St. Patrick's Cathedral, director of communications Joseph Zwilling told OSV News in an Oct. 11 email. St. John the Evangelist Parish, the church and offices of which had been housed in the building, "has been canonically merged" with the Church of the Holy Family, located within a block of the United Nations headquarters, he noted.

Currently, the archdiocese is battling the Chubb insurance group over abuse claim payouts, with Cardinal Dolan announcing in an Oct. 1 message to the faithful that the archdiocese had filed suit against its insurer for refusal of coverage.

The cardinal said in that message the archdiocese had settled more than 400 credible cases of abuse not covered by insurance through its Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program -- for a reported total of more than $76 million, according to the New York Daily News -- and had closed out another 123 cases following New York's 2019 Child Victims Act.

However, "about 1400 cases of alleged abuse, some dating back to World War II" remained, said the cardinal in his Oct. 1 message, with "the two largest groups of complaints … against a former volunteer basketball coach and a former janitor."

Media reports have estimated the number of unsettled claims against the archdiocese as of July 2024 total some $859 million.

OSV News found that an aggregated total from two decades of reports issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shows the nation's dioceses and eparchies paid some $4.38 billion to settle claims between 2004 and 2023.

Data for fiscal year 2024 is still pending; however, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' recent $880 million settlement and a $323 million settlement announced Sept. 26 by the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, account for $1.2 billion within the span of less than a month.

Those two settlements, plus the USCCB total for 2004-2023, add up to $5.59 billion.