The Catholic Church has spent billions of dollars settling claims from sexual abuse cases. NCR first exposed the abuse scandal in stories first reported 40 years ago. In 2025, NCR is investigating the costs to Catholics, parishes and the church in its new series "The Reckoning."
If you have any tips, leads, suggestions or information about the costs of the sexual abuse scandal on Catholics, orders, parishes, communities, dioceses or the church, please email ncr_editor@ncronline.org with the subject line "The Reckoning."
Forty years ago this June, the National Catholic Reporter began publishing stories about U.S. Catholic priests sexually abusing children. This is an NCR editorial that ran with that first coverage in 1985.
While scandals can shake us, the vast majority of our priests and parishioners strive to live the compassion of Jesus, writes Fr. Dave Mercer. Though this rarely makes the news, it is a more full picture of who and what the Catholic Church is.
After four years of bankruptcy proceedings, New York's Rockville Centre Diocese agreed to settle claims from people who said priests and others in the diocese sexually abused them. Survivors spoke to NCR about the settlement.
The Rockville Centre Diocese's 136 parishes paid $53 million of the approximately $323 million payout to victims of sexual abuse by priests and adults. Every parish filed for bankruptcy and contributed, whether or not they were being sued.
