The Buffalo diocese, which faces bankruptcy proceedings, has reportedly been hit with a $1.9 million bill for legal fees, along with over $2 million it has already spent on lawyers, public relations, and financial services.

Buffalo News reports that the diocese hired over 30 lawyers that charge up to and over $800 an hour to assist in their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. In addition, the Buffalo diocese reportedly owes attorneys who represented plaintiffs who claimed they were sexually abused as children in the Catholic Church in New York.

It all amounts to too much for some parishioners, who reportedly question where their donations are going.

“We put money in the plate every week. We should have the opportunity to know how those dollars are being spent at every level,” one church-goer told Buffalo News reporters. “When you’re spending $2 million of parishioner funds within six months, I think the bishop has an obligation to affirmatively reach out to his flock and say, ‘I want to update you on the following.’ That’s on him. This is not a lawyer problem. This is a stewardship problem within the diocese.”

Reportedly, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of the Buffalo diocese has stated that the bankruptcy is the best way to provide recompense to survivors of child sex abuse in the church. However, these survivors have also criticized the diocese’s legal bills.

“It has been driving all of us crazy when you look at all this money,” an advocate and survivor told Buffalo News reporters, pointing out that the diocese has not yet disclosed how it handled reports of child sex abuse by clergy members in the past.

The Buffalo diocese has endured months of criticism since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of this year. According to the diocese, the expenses were unavoidable.

“Last year was unprecedented in the 173-year history of our diocese,” a lawyer representing the diocese reportedly said in a statement in the months after the filing. “Hundreds of new claims surfaced and our lawyers and paralegals spent thousands of hours responding to the claims. Our fees, itemized and billed at substantially reduced rates, reflect our extensive work.”

Loss of Income Compounds Financial Strain on Buffalo Diocese

According to the Buffalo News, in addition to mounting legal bills, the diocese faced declining income after hundreds of lawsuits alleging child sex abuse hit it in 2018. Reportedly, the diocese made $18.1 million from 2017 to 2018, but its income fell by $5 million the following year. As of April of this year, the diocese has a reported $7 million in income with six months left.

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, AP News reported that the diocese was one of 20 to seek bankruptcy protection in the wake of the Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal. The filing reportedly indicated that the dioceses had between $10 million and $50 million in assets and up to $100 million in liabilities. Creditors, or those who the diocese owes money, may number nearly 1,000.

At the time, a number of survivor advocacy groups voiced concern that the diocese was trying to hide how it handled allegations of child sex abuse in the past.

“Those secrets should come out and the men who allowed abuse to continue should be held responsible,” a representative for one advocacy group told AP News. “Without full knowledge of what went wrong in these cases, we cannot hope to prevent them again in the future.”

Other advocates say that it is vital survivors know that the Buffalo diocese has resources to compensate victims.

“A bankruptcy is simply a way to give the diocese a legal ‘time out’ from the current litigation so that one judge can ultimately decide a fair way to compensate all people who timely file a claim in the bankruptcy,” a lawyer who has represented victims in bankruptcy cases said to AP News.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.