Diocese of Camden reaches $180 million settlement with sexual abuse survivors

The Diocese of Camden has reached a $180 million settlement with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, the Catholic Church of South Jersey announced on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.

The proposed trust for survivors will require final approval by the Bankruptcy Court, the Diocese said.

“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,” said Camden Bishop Joseph A. Williams.

The settlement expands on a $87.5 million settlement reached with the Diocese in 2022 to include funds from “hold-out insurance carriers,” according to Lowenstein Sandler, the law firm that represented the some 300 sexual abuse survivors in the case.

Williams, who became the bishop of the Diocese of Camden in 2024, ended the diocese’s years-long opposition to a state grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in May 2025.

The grand jury investigation was allowed to go forward by the New Jersey Supreme Court in June 2025.