The Archdiocese of New York is laying off workers — and says more staff may have to go — to help pay for the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal.
The cash-strapped Church already previously announced the sale of the archdiocese’s Cardinal Cooke headquarters building in Midtown.
“Such decisions are never easy, but the current financial crunch the archdiocese faces, and the upcoming move to our new offices in 2025, make this the appropriate time to make some tough decisions,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote in a letter to archdiocese faithful this month in announcing the layoffs.
The pink slips are going to 18 staffers, or about 4% of the work force involved in the archdiocese’s administration, and will save more than $1.5 million as officials focus more resources on parishes, according to the Church and Catholic media.
“Our goal in all of this is to ensure that we are responding as effectively as possible to the needs of the people we are called upon to serve in the ten counties and nearly 300 parishes that make up this archdiocese,” Dolan said. “This restructuring has, unfortunately, resulted in regrettable lay-offs for some workers at the Cardinal Cooke Building of the Catholic Center and elsewhere around the archdiocese.”
Dolan added that the staff reduction is “not a one-time event” and that more job cuts could be in the offing, at the very least through attrition.
The specific jobs being axed were not released because some of the affected workers have not been notified yet, the National Catholic Reporter said.
The Archdiocese previously announced the sale of its 40,000-square-foot, 20-story headquarters at 1011 First Ave. between East 55th and 56th streets for more than $100 million. The Vanbarton Group, a developer of office and luxury buildings, bought the prime Manhattan property, The Spirit news outlet reported.
The building’s church workers are being relocated to a smaller building at 488 Madison Ave., closer to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
Dolan said costs surrounding the hordes of sex-abuse cases against the Church remain a major financial concern. The Archdiocese has sued its insurer, Chubb, for refusing to pay some of the claims.
“We have worked hard to settle meritorious cases not covered by insurance, in justice to the victims of years past,” Dolan wrote in his letter. “We settled over 400 hundred cases through our Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) and 123 more in response to the CVA [Child Victims Act of 2019].
“There remains about 1400 cases of alleged abuse, some dating back to World War II! To be clear, not all of these allegations are against priests. In fact, the two largest groups of complaints are against a former volunteer basketball coach and a former janitor…..In the long run, all these cases are a towering expense for us,” the cardinal said.
He said the proceeds of the sale of the building on First Avenue “will be used to ease the financial burden caused by the sexual abuse crisis.”
“Other properties are carefully being considered for sale as well. Our future financial strength will require even more strategy and sacrifice and even more help from the archdiocese and more help from our parishes and people,” Dolan said.
He said some of the savings will go back to parishes in the form of grants, for example, to organize special Masses for immigrant communities that make up the Archdiocese that encompasses Manhattan, Staten Island, The Bronx and northern suburbs.