St. Timothy's asked to pay over $5M toward sexual abuse settlement

TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) — Parishioners of Saint Timothy Parish in the Town of Tonawanda are left with more questions than answers after learning their parish has to pay over $5 million toward the $150 million clergy sexual abuse settlement.

Parishioner Patricia Dowling said her faith in the Catholic church isn’t shaken, but her faith in their leadership is.

“The Diocese is acting more like a corporation that’s in trouble and it’s turned to the churches to bail out the bottom line,” Dowling said. “We have compassion, absolute compassion for the victims of the sexual abuse, but I think most parishioners would agree that the responsibility for the crimes lies in the hierarchy.”

Parishes throughout the Diocese of Buffalo have to pay a collective $80 million toward the clergy sex abuse settlement. Each parish was told it would have to pay between 10 to 75 percent of its reserved funds.

Saint Timothy Parish was asked to pay around $5.2 million, which is the second highest amount out of any parish.

“I now understand what it means when the air is sucked out of the room,” Dowling said. “I think everyone felt like they had been punched in the stomach… This of course represents generations of faithful, generous donors from the parish and the very frugal and wise stewardship of previous pastors.”

Dowling said many at the church are wondering why St. Timothy’s has to pay millions, but some other larger parishes have to pay much less.

“We’ve paid our bills, we paid our insurance bill, paid the annual assessment to the Diocese,” she said. “We’ve followed the rules, but yes, it does make us question, will this make us more likely to close in the future?”

Diocese of Buffalo Communications Director Joe Martone said the parish is currently not slated to close, and that the Diocese used the same formula for each parish when deciding how much each one would pay toward the settlement.

“The parishes with the least amount of reserves would pay a smaller percentage and progressively going up from 10 to 75 percent. Because St Timothy’s had more than $3 million in unrestricted assets, their contribution is 75 percent of those unrestricted assets,” he said. “This is our best opportunity to provide restitution for the victims within the Diocese of Buffalo. We’ve been in chapter 11 for more than five years, through this contribution we hope to close this painful chapter for the victims that suffered abuse through the Diocese.”

Dowling said those funds should go toward the surrounding community and pay for services and programs, including its food pantry.

“St. Timothy’s is a small church that serves one of the most economically distressed neighborhoods in the Town of Tonawanda, so this just didn’t ring right for us,” she said.

Parishes have until July 15 to make payments toward the settlement.

Click here to read all of WIVB News 4’s coverage on the Buffalo Diocese’s settlement and restructuring.

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