Catholic church still silencing victims
Parishioners at Catholic Masses should be able to maintain faith that coins their children drop into collection baskets are not used to shield the church from claims filed against it by sexual abuse victims. A damning report released last week suggests such faith is not rewarded.
The Catholic Church spent a reported $10.6 million in recent years to combat legislation in various Northeast states that is designed to aid victims of clergy abuse.
A church spokesman offered a wobbly responses as to how $875,000 of that was spent in Connecticut. The retort was that it wasn’t all used to pay lobbyists. Which is another way of saying some of it was.
The Connecticut legislation in question would have opened a 27-month window for filing civil sex abuse lawsuits related to cases that predate the current statute of limitations. The window vanished in the final draft of the bill, which is primarily aimed at prevention measures.
Christopher Healy, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference, confirmed the church paid for lobbying efforts to ensure the window remained closed, reasoning “People’s memories fade.”
That’s true in some legal cases, but best left for judges and juries to determine rather than the potential defendants. There are people who say the change denies them their day in court.
There’s a lot of money at stake. The Bridgeport Diocese has paid $52 million in settlements to victims, slightly more than the Archdiocese of Hartford. As Catholic schools and churches struggle to remain solvent, such payments can determine their survival. It’s hard to imagine the discourse between a lobbyist and a lawmaker on this issue, but the result is the church will likely save cash.
Guilty parties will be protected in other quarters as well. Bills such as this one, after all, are not specifically about the church. In New York, $3 million was spent in vain to try to stop the Child Victims Act, which raises the age at which victims can sue to 55. It was signed into law Feb. 14.
Ultimately, moral considerations should outweigh legal and financial ones. Hiring lobbyists to pull political strings behind the scenes is contrary to the intent of Pope Francis, who said the “pain of the victims and their families is also our pain.” Bridgeport Bishop Frank Caggiano took some positive steps in recent years by ordering an independent review of abuse within his diocese along with an audit of the source of funding for related financial settlements. His predecessor, Bishop William Lori, once sought to seal such records.
Lori, now the archbishop of Baltimore, was back in the news last week for editing a report to the Vatican to redact names of recipients of gifts from a bishop Lori was assigned to investigate. The list included $7,500 in gifts given to Lori.
Hiring lobbyists and actions like Lori’s, which amounts to a coverup, are among the reasons faith in the church remains elusive.
The Catholic Church needs to stand with the abused, not victimize them further.
Ultimately, moral considerations should outweigh legal and financial ones. Hiring lobbyists to pull political strings behind the scenes is contrary to the intent of Pope Francis.