February 18, 2026
Jim Walsh/Imagn Images
The Diocese of Camden has reached a $180 million settlement to resolve claims of clergy sexual abuse by more than 300 survivors in South Jersey.
The Diocese of Camden has agreed to a $180 million settlement that would resolve lawsuits covering more than 300 survivors of clergy sexual abuse in South Jersey, Bishop Joseph Williams said Tuesday in a letter to parishioners.
The agreement comes after years of legal battles and resistance from the diocese, which had tried to prevent the state from pursuing a grand jury investigation into claims of sexual abuse. The settlement is pending approval by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge. The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 after the state expanded its statute of limitations on clergy abuse claims, leading to a wave of lawsuits that spanned decades of allegations.
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"For the survivors of South Jersey, this day is long overdue and represents a milestone in their journey toward restored justice and the healing and recognition they have long sought and deserve," Williams wrote in his letter.
If the settlement is approved, the diocese would fund a $180 million trust that includes contributions from its parishes and insurers who have represented the church in years past. The agreement is a supplement to the $87.5 million settlement the Diocese of Camden reached with survivors in 2022. It was later approved as part of a reorganization plan reviewed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2024.
Williams, who became the leader of the diocese a year ago, surprised survivors and their attorneys by abandoning the church's fight to prevent a state investigation. Williams told parishioners the move was motivated by the need to regain the trust of sexual abuse victims and help them rekindle their faith in the church.
If approved, the settlement would be among the largest of its kind in the United States.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached an $880 million agreement in October 2024 to resolve sexual abuse claims by more than 1,350 people. That settlement added to more than $740 million paid to victims in past agreements.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans agreed in September to pay at least $230 million to victims in a settlement covering more than 500 abuse claims.
The Diocese of Camden is comprised of 62 parishes in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.
Lowenstein Sandler, the law firm representing survivors in the Diocese of Camden case, said it's pleased to put an end to the long-running dispute with the church and its insurers.
"I am in awe of the fortitude of these survivors, who have waited years to receive compensation for the horrible wrongs they have suffered," Lowenstein partner Jeffrey D. Prol said in a statement. "We are honored to have stood with them throughout this portion of their protracted struggle, and we are hopeful that resolving this bankruptcy case will prove to be a step forward in their personal recovery journeys."
Last year, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the state attorney general's office is permitted to proceed with a grand jury investigation of clergy abuse in the Diocese of Camden. The attorney general's office did not immediately respond when asked Wednesday about the status of its probe.
New Jersey started investigating abuse allegations in 2018 after Pennsylvania released a grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children in that state. The report prompted New Jersey to reform its statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims, giving victims the right to sue until they turn 55 or within seven years of determining they had been harmed by their experience of abuse.
Before 2019, victims had to be younger than 20 years old or file a suit within two years of recognizing the impact of abuse.
Williams apologized to survivors in his letter and said the abuse by clergy was "a devastating betrayal" of the trust placed in the church.
"I cannot remove the scars you carry nor restore the innocence you lost, but on behalf of my predecessors and the faithful of Camden I can say clearly and without reservation: We believe you, we are sorry and we are committed to walking a different path going forward with you," Williams said.
