Survivors of sexual abuse react to Buffalo Diocese's $150M settlement

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Survivors of the sexual abuse reportedly carried out by members of the Diocese of Buffalo reacted to the Diocese's agreement to pay $150 million to settle over 800 claims of sexual abuse.

Their reactions followed a federal court hearing regarding the settlement that took place on Tuesday in downtown Buffalo and took years to reach.

One survivor said he was disappointed and doesn't believe the church took enough accountability, while others said no amount of money will truly heal them from what they went through.

Gary Astridge, who said he was sexually abused for four years when he was a child, addressed reporters after the hearing. He said he still carries the trauma with him.

"When someone like me says, 'Yeah, I'm a survivor of sex abuse,' people can take that at face value and say, 'Oh wow, that's terrible, I'm so sorry,'" Astridge said. "But the reality is, you don't really know and it's like. Do you really want to hear the story of what happened to me? Do you really want to know? It's disgusting.”

He said that after five years of litigation and legal fees, the settlement offer is a slap in the face and an insult to survivors. 

"It's not money that's gonna change anybody's lives and from the way we were damaged as people, myself specifically, being a child and being sexually abused and raped from the ages of 7 to 11," Astridge said. "It affects you through your whole life."

Richard Brownell, another survivor who was at the hearing, was also disappointed and said the settlement is taking way too long. He also doesn't believe the church has done everything that it could to settle in a timely manner.

“I always call us victims, because we're victims, so we're here, but we're victims of what the church allotted," Brownell said. "They knew what was going on. That's it. Ruined a lot of people's lives. That's a fact.”

Another survivor, Kevin Brun, said he hopes the settlement brings some people closure, but for him, it doesn't.

"To me, it's a shallow offer," Brun said. "It's low and I'll leave it up to my fellow survivors to form their own opinions and hopefully it brings closure to some people. It hasn't brought closure to me."

Attorneys for the survivors said that although money doesn't make the pain go away, they have seen it bring closure to some people.

Michael Whalen, the initial whistleblower against the Buffalo Catholic Church who publicly called out a priest for sexually abusing him as a child, said Tuesday was a roller coaster of emotions.

Whalen said he was sexually abused after a priest he trusted from St. John Vianney Parish in Orchard Park invited him on a weekend-long ski strip. He never spoke about the abuse until 2018.

"When I told my story, it wasn't about the money," Whalen said. "It was about exposing the evil that was in the dioceses and how they hid it."

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents 43 of the sexual abuse survivors, said Whalen's story and countless others are being heard by survivors worldwide.

"When they see the survivors of victims in Buffalo accomplishing what they were accomplishing to this settlement, it provides hope to the victims, the survivors outside of Buffalo who now say, 'We're not the only ones, we're not alone,'" Garabedian said.

Garabedian said this is the biggest settlement, money and victim-wise, that he's been a part of. He added that the settlement won't be split evenly, but an allocator will distribute certain amounts to victims based on what happened to them and the duration of the abuse, among other factors.

Whalen said while the situation has led him to attend mass less frequently, his faith has been a key part of his healing. He makes a point to attend mass every Feb. 27, which is the anniversary of when he brought the abuse to light.

"I still believe in Jesus, God and my religion, and through this, I forgave my abuser," he said.