For years, victims’ groups and some state lawmakers have pressed for legislation that would lift the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases to permit lawsuits by more victims. New York currently has among the most restrictive laws for victims in the nation, requiring that they bring criminal or civil charges by the time they turn 23. The church has actively lobbied against the bill, known as the Child Victims Act, which applies not just to priests, but to anyone who sexually abuses a child. The compensation program, in some ways, is the church’s response, which it hopes gives victims a measure of justice and closure. It also limits the potential for future litigation, critics say.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, an organization critical of the church’s handling of sexual abuse cases, argued that the timing of the program was hardly coincidental. “We’ve seen the pattern time and time again across the country,” he said. “Whenever statute of limitations reform is making real progress, bishops take these steps, in essence, to say to lawmakers, ‘Hey, back off, we’re handling this ourselves.’”

Any victim who agrees to compensation from the fund must sign a release forgoing the right to sue the archdiocese over sexual abuse allegations. That provision drew sharp criticism on Thursday from some victims and their advocates.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountablity.org, a watchdog organization that documents abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church, said the program was an attempt to preemptively settle with victims who would be able to sue the archdiocese if the Child Victims Act were to ever pass. “He’s presenting it as mercy, but it’s actually a shrewd strategy,” Ms. Doyle said.

Mary Caplan, a former director of the survivors’ network’s New York chapter, who was abused by a New Jersey priest in New York City as a child, said she would “encourage victims to think long and hard before approaching church officials or their representatives.”