The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced Thursday that it has hired an independent administrator to oversee and compensate previous victims of sexual abuse by church leaders.

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program is an oversight committee headed by attorney Kenneth Feinberg. It is aimed at compensating about 170 sexual abuse survivors who previously submitted complaints to the archdiocese over the past 40 years.

The program consists of two phases. The first, which begins immediately, is to compensate previous victims. The second phase will deal with newer cases of alleged sexual abuse by clergy.

The archdiocese says the program is unique because the independent committee has total authority over how much victims receive from the church.

Officials say there is no cap on the compensation awarded to victims; however, once they agree to a settlement, the victims give up their right to further lawsuits against the archdiocese.