Child Vic Act heat on GOP

ALBANY – In the wake of Pope Francis’ letter denouncing child sex abuse and decades of church coverups, victims and several New York State legislators have reignited their calls for the state Senate GOP to pass a bill making it easier for survivors to seek justice as adults.

“According to Pope Francis, the Lord stands with survivors of sexual assault. And yet, the state Senate Republicans have deliberately chosen to stand with abusers instead,” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (inset), the Manhattan Democrat sponsoring the Child Victims Act that has passed her chamber the past two years.

Cecilia Springer, who says she was abused as a child by a nun in her Catholic school, also said it’s time for New York to act.

“How can any individual who purports to be called to the service of God and people abuse children and then do everything possible to cover up the crime? It is time for Albany to put a spotlight on this issue so we can finally find some justice,” Springer said.

The Pope’s letter Monday came a week after a grand jury in Pennsylvania issued a shocking report that found child sex abuse cases going back decades that involved more than 300 priests.

Some of the abuse was found to have taken place in New York. But in almost all cases, the priests cannot be charged criminally or sued civilly because Pennsylvania, like New York, has weak statute of limitation laws.

“The Pennsylvania grand jury report is proof of concept for the need of the Child Victims Act in New York,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman, the Manhattan Democrat sponsoring the bill in his chamber.

Legislative Democrats and many advocates are supporting a Child Victims Act that would give victims more time to bring criminal and civil cases. It would also create a one-year window to revive old cases that are time-barred under current law.

The bill has been blocked by Senate Republicans and is vehemently opposed by such groups as the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish community, the Boy Scouts of America and insurance firms, which fear financial woes for the industry.

Shortly after the Pennsylvania report was made public last week, Gov. Cuomo also called on the Senate GOP to act.

Senate GOP spokeswoman Candice Giove said, "Republicans consistently act on legislation to proactively protect children from predators.”

“In fact, on the same day Gov. Cuomo said America ‘was never that great,’ he was signing into law Republican legislation to protect child sex trafficking victims,” Giove said.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, angered victims this year when he said the act’s provision to open a one-year window to revive old cases “would be toxic for us.”

Dennis Poust, spokesman for the state Catholic Conference, said the church supports a different bill that would completely eliminate the criminal statute of limitation on child sex abuse cases, “which is something the Child Victims Act does not do and should.”

Poust said the church still opposes a one-year lookback window.