Category: IRCP

To register, or not to register? That is the question.

For those of you just catching up, the IRCPs, or the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programs, are programs for certain survivors of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn.

If victims qualify, they may get financial compensation. But the victim will have to sign away later civil rights if they become available. The victim will also not have access to the priest perpetrator’s secret personnel file or learn about the cover-up of abuse. The plan is run by an independent administrator.

However, the victim CAN publicize the name of the perpetrator. And the compensation is nothing to sniff at. Numbers are in the six figures and can go a long way to help many people rebuild lives.

It’s a big trade off.

The question

Should you register online?

No. If you think the plan is an option for you, you should shop around a find the right lawyer first and have that lawyer complete the process for you.

Why?

There are a number of reasons:

1. Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop DiMarzio have had teams of lawyers for decades whose sole intention has been to ensure that survivors don’t get justice. Are you going to go into that fight alone?
2. Kenneth Feinberg and his team are only working with the information that Dolan and DiMarzio selectively choose to disclose. Don’t you think it’s wise to go in with someone with experience working with clergy sex abuse cases in New York and who can push back in case your claim is denied?
3. The process is not easy, nor is it victim-friendly.

~ and ~

At the end of the IRCP process, a lawyer will be chosen for you to help you go through the final agreement. Will that attorney have your interests at heart? Who knows …

For those who balk at fees: Yes, lawyers usually charge somewhere between 30% and 40% of your final settlement. But if you go in alone and are denied, that’s it. You’re toast, unless you have something else you can show to “prove” your case. A lawyer has a ton more resources, years of institutional knowledge, data, researchers, a team of experts at his/her disposal, past and current legal cases, other attorneys, and legal knowledge … much more than a single survivor.

On a whole, victims who have legal representation tend to get larger awards than those who do not.

Finding a good attorney is not rocket science. Ask around for referrals. Find experts who have handled these cases in New York. Then start making calls.

Choosing a lawyer is like dating. You need someone who “gets” you, returns your phone calls, and hasn’t been a jerk to your friends. It’s okay to interview a few and if you just don’t like someone, say to yourself: “Meh. He’s a mouth breather. Next!”

All joking aside: This is the lawyer who may help put your perpetrator behind bars. This is not a decision to take lightly.

The IRCP may not be for you

The IRCP is not for everyone. It’s enabler and predator friendly. Or, you may not qualify—most survivors in both dioceses do not.

But if you do use the plan, PLEASE publicize your perpetrator.

My prediction: The Diocese of Rockville Center will be the next to announce a plan.

If you were a part of the IRCP in New York, received a settlement, and were NOT represented by an attorney, give me a shout: jcasteix@gmail.com. I am trying to put together a list of all of the perpetrators who have been named in the program. Your privacy will be protected.

 

Sorry for the gap since Part 2. I was on vacation. Then I ended up on the news. 

 

He’s been called The Master of Disasters, a brand unto himself, and the Compensation Czar.

Kenneth Feinberg (pictured above), the man who, with his assistant Camille Biros (read this recent New York Times article about her), is in charge of determining who is eligible for compensation in both the New York Archdiocese’s and Brooklyn Diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Plans.

He handled compensation for the victims of 9/11, the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, the Penn State sex abuse scandal, the Boston Marathon Bombings … the list goes on and on.

But these disasters were different. Penn State officials were subject to civil and criminal trials. BP was subject to huge civil litigation with the Deepwater Horizon explosion. One of the Boston Bombers died; the other was given the death sentence in the criminal courts.

Not only were these scandals settled in the courts before Feinberg got them, but they are also over. Done.

The Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal in the State of New York is neither. It is not over and victims have been barred from using the civil courts for justice. The scandal is not done.

It gets worse.

All of the evidence that the church has in their files will remain secret. Even from Feinberg. He has to trust Dolan is telling him the truth and giving him all of the information he needs.

The IRCP is different from any plan Feinberg’s office has administered before.

Due Diligence

Earlier this year, Barb Dorris and I reached out to Feinberg’s office. We wanted to meet with him in order to be able to do our due diligence for victims who were coming to us with questions about the IRCP.

I expected the kind of response I usually get from church officials: crickets. Or, a delayed patronizing response, informing me that I am an idiot.

His response was immediate and respectful. He wanted to meet and invited us to bring others. He was open to talking on the phone. He was frustrated because victims didn’t want to talk to him (we had to explain that a friend of Dolan’s is no friend of victims).

At our in-person meeting, Barb and I brought the leading minds in the clergy sex abuse cover-up scandal victims’ “movement.” We needed people far smarter than us to help inform him of the huge problem he is facing. (I won’t name names here, unless they say it’s okay).

Did Feinberg fully grasp what we were telling him—that Cardinal Dolan is one of the biggest enablers of sex abuse and cover-up in the United States? That Dolan is most likely sitting on a treasure trove of evidence of child sex abuse? That this plan is a ploy to rob victims of their civil rights? That quite possibly, this plan may keep abusers in ministry, keep enablers from being held accountable, and rob victims of their civil rights?

I don’t know.

But at least he took our meeting and listened to us. If I were to call him tomorrow, I am sure he’d meet with me right away. I have tremendous respect for that.

Do I have much respect for the plans themselves or the bishop and cardinal who are heading them? No.

I wouldn’t swap places with him and Camille Biros for all of the money in the world. But Kenneth Feinberg has earned my respect.

 

Part two of this series was originally going to be a little about IRCP plan administrator Ken Feinberg, but since the Diocese of Brooklyn has posted its official IRCP website (full of legalese), I thought I would go over some of the details here. *

 

Brooklyn IRCP

Bishop DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn are currently in Phase One

The only survivors who qualify are those to whom the diocese has reached out directly. (That’s why we knew this announcement was coming – You can’t call a bunch of survivors and not have the word get around)

Whom did they call? People who had come forward to them in the past with complaints of abuse by priests or deacons of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Does it count if their parents/teachers/neighbors/therapists complained? I don’t know.

This phase does NOT include victims abused by teachers, order priests, nuns, brothers, volunteers, or employees of the Diocese of Brooklyn … beginning to see the problem?

It only gets worse when we look at the Archdiocese of New York.

If you have not been contacted by the Diocese of Brooklyn, there is nothing you can do in Phase One. But if you were sexually abused in the diocese, you can register for Phase Two. That will probably begin sometime in September, when Phase One ends.

If you register for Phase Two or are considering it, call an attorney. Throughout the process, you will be up against the Diocese of Brooklyn and their attorneys and need to be on equal footing with the law firm of Kenneth Feinberg (more about him in a later post). You are NOT the diocese’s primary interest or their client.

Don’t go in alone.

 

Archdiocese of New York IRCP

 

Cardinal Dolan and the Archdiocese are in Phase Two. The deadline for that phase has been extended to November.

Sexual abuse victims qualify if they were abused by clergy (not deacons) of the Archdiocese of New York. Also: no teachers, volunteers, religious order priests, nuns, brothers, or employees.

It’s also important to note that diocesan priests make up only about half of the priests of the archdiocese at any given time over the past 50 or so years.

It looks like a big program, but it only helps a fraction of victims.

If you think you may qualify, you should explore your options … and call an attorney.

 

Your call to action

If you do participate in this program, you have the right to talk publicly. But the church knows that 99.9% of victims do not know how to do a media event, don’t have the time to reach out to other victims, and don’t want the burden of collecting all of the data on who has been credibly accused, etc.

But I do.

If you have participated in this program and were not represented by an attorney, please contact me at jcasteix@gmail.com. Do NOT let the church keep you silent.

If you are an attorney and have represented survivors in the IRCP, give me a shout. Let’s get those names out there.

Remember, the Archdiocese of New York is not releasing information or evidence about abuse and cover-up, so they don’t really want to help victims.

And if they try to sell this as “reform” to the NY Legislature, we need to push back.

 

* Disclaimer:

This post does not take the place of legal advice. I am not an attorney. In fact, I encourage anyone who think that they might qualify for this program to call an attorney with experience in New York in handling/settling these cases.

~PART ONE OF A MULTI-PART SERIES ON THE IRCP~

I had planned on talking about the Archdiocese of New York’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) in this blog, but I wanted to wait until after the end of the current New York legislative session.

My hope was that the plan would be rendered redundant—that the Child Victims’ Act (CVA) would have passed, and survivors of child sexual abuse across the state would have the ability to use the civil courts for justice.

But the CVA died. Less than 24 hours later, the Diocese of Brooklyn danced of the grave of the CVA and announced their own IRCP.

So it’s time to start talking.

Is the IRCP a Hoax?

In a previous a post, I called Hope and Healing Guam—a plan almost exactly like Dolan’s on the island territory—an outright hoax.

The reason I did so is because survivors of sexual abuse on Guam have the right to use the civil justice system to expose the archdiocese-wide conspiracy to cover up child sexual abuse—a conspiracy that lasted decades and included the cover-up of alleged sexual abuse by the archbishop himself.

Hope and Healing Guam aims to take these cases out of the court system and hide them in a church-run prayer circle, where the victims can get a spiritual advisor and a small check. Documents and the conspiracy will remain hidden forever.

Victims don’t want a check. They want assurances that these crimes will never happen again.

Survivors in New York don’t have the civil justice option. Many survivors in New York will never have a civil justice option.

So while the IRCP is a far from ideal program, it is not a hoax. But it also requires a lot of work on the part of survivors to make sure that child safety and exposing wrongdoing are the primary objectives.

 

What are the Church’s Motives? Why Brooklyn?

The Catholic Church in New York has very calculated motives with these IRCP programs. I believe it was a part of a deal to kill the CVA. I’m guessing Dolan and his pals said, “Hey, you kill this bill and we will roll out these plans across the state. The protesters will go away by the time the next legislative session starts up, we promise.”

And they have other priorities:

• They want to stop legislative reform for ALL victims of child sexual abuse. If it works in NY, they are going to try and roll out these plans across the country.
• They want the good publicity
• They want to stop the document bleed that happens with litigation—those damning documents that show how priests were moved around, kids were abused and the crimes were covered up, parents were kept in the dark, and collusion was everywhere.

So Now What?

If you think you qualify for either of these plans, talk to an attorney. Don’t know who to call? Look online for people who have successfully handled/settled these kinds of cases with the church in New York. Ask for referrals. Don’t use someone who has never handled an abuse case.

I will go into more details about who qualifies for these in a later post. Why? Because not all victims are created equal …

I will take your questions in the comments. If I don’t know the answers, I will find out.

Coming up next: Who is Ken Feinberg?