A look at the largest clergy abuse settlements reached by Catholic organizations in the US
Feb 18, 2026, 9:31 AM
FILE - A cross is silhouetted against a stained glass window inside a Catholic Church in New Orleans on Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
A New Jersey Catholic diocese outside Philadelphia has agreed to pay $180 million in a clergy sexual abuse settlement, the latest in a church scandal set off more than two decades ago.
The settlement, which must still be approved by a bankruptcy court, comes after the diocese had fought a state a grand jury investigation for years before relenting last year.
The Camden diocese, like others nationwide, filed for bankruptcy amid a torrent of lawsuits after the statute of limitations was relaxed.
Here is a list of some of the other large clergy abuse settlements reached by the Catholic Church in the U.S.
In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $880 million to more than 1,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.
The archdiocese, which covers Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, had previously paid more than $740 million to victims, making the total payout more than $1.5 billion.
The New Orleans Archdiocese agreed to pay at least $230 million to hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement approved by a federal judge in December.
The settlement followed years of negotiations and included policies intended to prevent abuse from happening in the future. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 to avoid handling each of the more than 500 abuse claims separately.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed in 2007 to pay $198 million to settle more than 140 clergy sexual abuse claims.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2024 in response to roughly 400 additional lawsuits alleging priests and others sexually abused children decades earlier. The lawsuits were filed after California lifted a statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims in 2019.
The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, a Jesuit order, agreed in 2011 to pay $166 million to more than 450 Native Americans and Alaska Natives who were abused at the order’s schools across the northwestern U.S. The order also agreed to pay $50 million to settle another 110 sex abuse claims in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2007.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reached a $100 million settlement with about 90 victims of sex abuse in 2004. Three years later, the diocese agreed to pay another $7 million to settle four additional sexual abuse lawsuits.
The archdiocese in Portland was the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy in 2004 over sex abuse allegations after settling more than 100 cases. By the time the bankruptcy was complete three years later, the archdiocese had settled more than 300 claims and paid out nearly $90 million in claims and attorney fees. In 2019, the archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle eight additional claims of clergy sexual abuse.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million to settle more than 500 clergy sex abuse lawsuits in 2003. The scope of the sex abuse crisis in Boston set off reports around the United States and the world of widespread abuse by priests and the church’s efforts to hide it.
In 2006, the Diocese of Covington paid more than $81 million to more than 200 sexual abuse victims in a court settlement. A report from the diocese released in 2020 found that 59 Catholic priests and 31 others associated with the church had sexually abused children since the 1950s.
As of 2022, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid more than $78 million to settle 438 claims of clergy sexual abuse, according agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle an additional sex abuse case.
The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which serves Catholics in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, agreed in 2011 to pay $77 to roughly 150 clergy sex abuse victims.
The Diocese of Oakland reached a $56 million settlement with 56 survivors of sexual abuse in 2005. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after more than 300 child sex abuse lawsuits were filed after a new state law temporarily extended the statute of limitations for child sex abuse litigation.
