Diocese of Buffalo reportedly laying off 20% of diocesan workforce amid bankruptcy

CNA Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 11:51 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Buffalo is reportedly dismissing a substantial number of workers at its headquarters as it continues to move through a nine-figure sex abuse bankruptcy payout.

A leaked email from Bishop Michael Fisher, reported on by local media, said the diocese’s ongoing settlement “require[s] us to make further sacrifices” at the diocesan Catholic Center, located in downtown Buffalo.

The diocese said earlier this year that it would pay a $150 million settlement “to survivors of sexual abuse for acts perpetrated against them by clergy, religious, lay employees, and volunteers.”

Fisher in the leaked email said the settlement means the diocese needs to “significantly reduce costs” at the Catholic Center.

“This entails the painful reality of having to [reduce] the number of positions in order to create a leaner, more cost-effective central administration,” the prelate said.

An Aug. 6 press release from the diocese said 22% of its 75 employees at the Catholic Center will lose their jobs, totaling around 15 or 16 workers.

The diocese will also transition to a four-day workweek beginning in September, while paid holidays will be reduced for full-time staff and eliminated for part-time employees working less than 25 hours per week.

Workers will also relocate from the Catholic Center to other offices nearby. The diocese announced the sale of the Catholic Center property last year.

Diocesan Chief Operating Officer Rick Suchan in the press release said the diocese “cannot adequately express our gratitude to the members of the Catholic Center staff who have worked tirelessly to deal with the difficult challenges of recent years.”

“We are committed to doing everything possible to ease the departure of those staff members affected by these cost reductions, which in no way reflect their performance or lasting contributions,” he said.

In the leaked email, Fisher said the “extreme sacrifices” are required to fulfill “our primary obligations to victim-survivors” of clergy abuse.

“We will have to find new ways of working, new ways of responding to the needs and opportunities of our diocese, and, importantly, new ways of supporting the ministries which are so essential to serving the countless needs of our local Church,” the bishop said.

Earlier this year the New York law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which has represented abuse victims in the Buffalo suit, told CNA the diocese’s $150 million payout was “the second-largest contribution by a bankrupt Roman Catholic institution and its affiliates in any Roman Catholic bankruptcy case to date.”

The largest diocesan-level bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history thus far was in the Diocese of Rockville Centre — also in New York — which agreed to pay $323 million to abuse victims in 2024.

The largest Church abuse payout total in U.S. history has been at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which last year agreed to pay out nearly $1 billion to abuse victims.