June 29 (UPI) — The Archdiocese of San Francisco has reached a $395 million settlement with hundreds of survivors of childhood sexual abuse allegedly committed by members of the clergy, lawyers for the victims and the archbishop announced Monday.
The agreement in principle, which follows three years of bankruptcy proceedings and extensive negotiations between the archdiocese and lawyers representing the victims, affects some 530 survivors, according to lawyer Jeff Anderson, who is among the claimants’ litigation team.
During a press conference streamed live online Monday afternoon, Anderson described the agreement as “a real settlement that provides for a significant measure of accountability, required transparency and an authentic reckoning by those that allowed these indelible horrors to be inflicted upon so many for so long.”
The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023, after hundreds of clergy sexual abuse civil cases were filed against it, which put a stop to all litigation and forced the survivors to reorganize into a committee that was represented by nine claimants.
Those nine claimants then negotiated the settlement on behalf of all of the survivors, according to Anderson, who said the agreement reached also includes a 14-point plan to protect future children from similar abuses and empower survivors.
“This is unprecedented, and this gives me hope and it is the courage of these survivors that has caused it to happen,” he said.
In a letter addressed to members of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said that they believe “this proposal offers a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have carried the burden of this abuse for a lifetime.”
“We accept the responsibility for the failures that allowed this harm to occur,” he said.
“I sincerely apologize to all those who have suffered because of those failures.”
The lawsuits that prompted the archdiocese to file for bankruptcy were filed after California enacted legislation that opened a three-year window from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2022, lifting the statute of limitations on allegations of childhood sexual assault so victims of crimes even decades old could seek a civil, monetary resolution from their perpetrators.
Margie O’Driscoll, a survivor of clergy sexual assault and one of the nine committee members, said during the press conference that she was abused as a teenager by a priest at Marin Catholic High School nearly five decades ago.
She spoke directly to those who were similarly abused.
“I, like every survivor, have carried this pain and shame along like a ball and chain for a very, very long time — I see you and I know what you carry,” she said.
“So, while I want to say that today is a significant victory for everyone in the case … it’s really come at a significant cost to the 500 people sexually abused by priests and religious leaders.”
O’Driscoll said some of the victims had been abused more than 70 years ago, during which they carried the shame associated with the crime, while being scorned by the archdiocese and sometimes their accusations not believed by family and friends.
“And I think, today, shame is going to change sides,” she said.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of claims were filed after the passage of Assembly Bill 218, resulting in billions of dollars in settlements for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
In October 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached an $880 million settlement with 1,353 survivors. In April 2025, Los Angeles County reached a $4 billion settlement resolving more than 6,800 claims of sexual abuse allegedly committed at probation department facilities and MacLaren Children’s Center.