The Archdiocese of New Orleans agreed to pay nearly $180 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement announced Wednesday, the latest in a string of settlements by the Catholic Church.
The archdiocese, its parishes, and several insurers will pay $179.2 million into a trust to benefit survivors, according to a statement by the committee that negotiated the agreement. The money will be distributed after the church emerges from bankruptcy, it said.
But many of the survivors were not on board, their lawyers said. The agreement, which would settle a lawsuit filed in 2020, requires approval from the survivors as well as the bankruptcy court and other Archdiocese creditors.
In 2020, Archbishop Gregory Aymond held a ceremonial burning of the altar upon which a local priest videotaped his threeway with two hired dominatrices.
In 2021, his archdiocese declared bankruptcy in a move that was meant to shield church assets from abuse settlements.
That same year, the DOJ announced that the Archdiocese agreed to pay $1 million for falsifying FEMA claims related to Hurricane Katrina.
In 2022, it was reported that the FBI was investigating the New Orleans Archdiocese for molestation coverups going back decades.
In September 2023, the archdiocese announced it was selling millions in church property to settle abuse lawsuits.
In February of this year, it was revealed that the city's NFL franchise had collaborated with the archdiocese on a public relations campaign to stem fallout from the abuse allegations, including that lawyers for the team got to review the archdiocese's secret list of pedophile priests. Also, the team's president drafted a list of questions that that the archbishop would likely face from local reporters.