Diocese of Camden announces ‘milestone’ $180 million abuse settlement

The Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, will fund a $180 million settlement for abuse victims, Bishop Joseph Williams said this week, more than doubling a settlement amount proposed two years ago.

Williams said on Feb. 17 that the plan “establishes a trust of $180 million, funded by the diocese, its parishes, and the various insurers that insured the diocese in the past.” The proposal is still subject to approval by U.S. bankruptcy court.

The bishop noted that the bankruptcy court had approved an $87.5 million plan in 2024. A Feb. 17 press release from the New York-based law firm Lowenstein Sandler — whose attorneys have represented abuse victims in the dispute — said the agreement “supplements [the] earlier settlement” and comes in at “more than six times the amount” first proposed by the diocese in 2021.

Williams in his statement said the settlement is “long overdue” and “represents a milestone” in the journey of abuse victims toward “restored justice” and “healing.”

“To each one of those survivors, I would like to say: Thank you for your courage in coming forward. Without your bravery and persistence, this new day would not have dawned,” the prelate said.

John Collins, the chairman of the survivors’ committee, said in the law firm’s press release that the settlement “represents meaningful progress toward accountability and equitable compensation” and “achieves a fair and just outcome.” The committee consists of more than 300 victims of abuse.

The nine-figure settlement comes roughly nine months after Williams — who was installed in Camden in March 2025 — moved to drop the diocese’s opposition to the government’s attempt to empanel a grand jury to investigate abuse allegations at dioceses throughout the state.

The diocese had been engaged in a yearslong legal fight to block the government’s effort, arguing that such an investigation would be beyond the legal scope of a grand jury.

The state Supreme Court ruled in June 2025 that the government could empanel a grand jury for clergy abuse.

Williams on Feb. 17 thanked both the diocese’s college of consultors and its finance council for working toward the settlement, as well as previous Bishop Dennis Sullivan for implementing “the strongest safe environment policies in the country.”

“There is no greater way to honor the sufferings of those who have been harmed than to work day-in and day-out to make sure that something like this never happens again,” the bishop said.