Bishop Ronald Hicks is about to step into a painful chapter of the Catholic Church’s ongoing sex‑abuse crisis when he takes over the Archdiocese of New York— and people are already unsure of how he will respond.
Victims’ advocates and other church employees are anxious to see whether the 58‑year‑old bishop from Illinois will uphold the $300 million settlement reached by former Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan for roughly 1,300 childhood abuse claims.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who helped expose the Boston archdiocese’s abuse scandal more than 20 years ago, warned, “Cardinal Dolan has left Bishop Hicks with an archdiocese reeling and in free fall from the decades old cover‑up of clergy sexual abuse.”
Although Garabedian has settled abuse claims with the Diocese of Joliet, he noted he has had no direct contact with Hicks. “Because Bishop Hicks has spent time dealing with the fallout of clergy abuse in Joliet, he will probably say the right things but do almost nothing to help survivors try to heal. Bishop Hicks is a company man,” he said. “If he was not a company man then he would not be the next Archbishop.”
Dolan, who is stepping down at the compulsory age of 75, has trimmed the archdiocese’s payroll by 10% and sold off church property—including the land beneath the luxury Lotte New York Palace—for a staggering $490 million.
An additional $100 million was raised by selling the former headquarters on First Avenue and East 56th Street. Proceeds from both sales will also pay off earlier loans and fund future settlements.
During his first public appearance with Dolan inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Hicks was asked to outline his financial plans. He replied that he is “committed to learning about the issues before our church, including the funds the archdiocese has set aside to help resolve sexual abuse claims.”
Hicks continued, “As a church, we can never stop our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children, and to care for survivors. While this work is challenging, it’s difficult, it’s painful, I hope it will continue to help in the areas of accountability, transparency and healing.”
The Coalition for Just & Compassionate Compensation, an advocacy organization for victims, sent a letter to Pope Leo XIV last week expressing concern that a leadership change might jeopardize the ongoing settlement discussions.
The letter warned that an announcement at “this juncture — whether intentional or made without full appreciation of its impact — risks delaying, destabilizing, or undermining an active mediation process that is already underway and supported by concrete financial and institutional steps.” It added, “For survivors, such disruption would not be procedural. It would be deeply personal and harmful.”
Some voices remain uncertain, including Jeff Anderson, a lawyer representing hundreds of victims. Anderson said, “All the Archdiocese of New York and Cardinal Dolan have agreed to do is go into a process of mediation, and that process is underway.” He added, “There is no settlement.
There are no terms of settlement that are even close to being reached.” Anderson also pointed out that the church “is losing on the litigation side at least in many, so many, battles.”
“We’ll have to just see how it plays out, because today I can’t tell you,” he said. “While I don’t know him (Hicks) personally, I’m looking forward to working with him and anybody else in the Archdiocese to help bring some resolution to these survivors. So the fact there’s new blood coming in can’t hurt.”
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