A fund to compensate people who were sexually abused by priests is being set up in New Jersey as the Catholic Church prepares to release of the names of all priests and deacons credibly accused of victimizing children in the state.

The New Jersey Compensation Fund for Victims of Church Sexual Abuse of Minors will evaluate claims of abuse and offer settlements to victims, organizers said Monday. It will operate independent of New Jersey’s five dioceses.

The money will be paid by the New Jersey diocese where the accused priest worked.

The fund will be run by two veteran administrators of victims’ funds -- Kenneth Feinberg, an administrator of the U.S. government’s Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and Camille Biros, who has helped run the priest abuse victims’ fund of the Archdiocese of New York.

The fund will be the first statewide compensation program of its kind, Biros said.

Feinberg and Biros will review the case of each alleged victim, then offer victims a settlement. They will determine the amount offered and it will be paid by the dioceses.

“The diocese has no say in those matters,” Biros said.

In the Archdiocese of New York’s compensation program, the maximum settlement offered has been $500,000, she said.

Here’s how the program will roll out:

--Later this week or early next week, the New Jersey compensation fund will make its new website live. The site will include a draft of the procedures for handing out settlements.

--People will have 30 days to comment on the draft procedures. Once the rules are finalized, the fund will begin Phase 1, which will be open to alleged victims who have previously made claims against priests in New Jersey dioceses. Later, people with new claims will be able to submit their cases.

--The fund administrators will review each case and make a settlement offer. The alleged victim can either accept or reject the settlement. The settlement will be paid by the diocese where the accused priest served.

-- If accepted, the alleged victim must sign an agreement saying he or she will not sue the diocese. However, the alleged victim will be free to speak publicly about their case and settlement.

Church officials have not said when each diocese in New Jersey plans to release its list of priests accused of sexual abuse. But, a memo sent to parishes in the Diocese of Metuchen on Friday said to expect the release sometime this week.

It is unclear how many names will be on the list or how far back the cases will go. A similar list in Pennsylvania included the names of 300 priests, though that report was prepared by the state attorney general’s office.

New Jersey’s five dioceses -- the Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Metuchen, Trenton, Camden and Paterson -- agreed to voluntarily release their own lists of accused priests last year after New Jersey’s attorney general announced a grand jury probe into how the church handled abuse accusations.

The New Jersey task force’s hotline-- (855) 363-6548 -- set up in September was immediately flooded with calls from victims. The Archdiocese of Newark also received what is expected to be one of multiple subpoenas to Catholic dioceses to turn over records of abuse allegations to state investigators.

Though New Jersey has never had a single, independently-run compensation fund for victims of Catholic priests, individual dioceses have funded their own settlements for years. Last year, a church official said the five New Jersey dioceses have paid out at least $50 million to victims in recent years.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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