Updated: New Catholic Opposition
by Christine Stuart | April 4, 2007 11:11 PM
Posted to State Capitol
Video courtesy of CT Blogger
The Catholic Church has spoken in opposition to gay marriage, the distribution of emergency contraception to rape victims, and its latest battle is legislation that would increase the time victims of sexual abuse had to bring a lawsuit against a child sex offender from 30 to 40 years.
In the wake of the Hartford Courant’s articles on Rev. Stephen Foley, it was hard for any of the Judiciary Committee members to sympathize with the church’s argument.
“This is not a sympathetic party you’re coming to,” Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said
Nancy Matthews, a Bridgeport Diocese Chancellor, said:
“The bill before you threatens to deplete the resources- human and financial- that support the charitable works of the Church. The current law, passed in 2002, has already resulted in the additional payment of millions of dollars not just to victims but to the attorneys who represent them. Our counsel, Attorney Colbert, will speak to the practical impossibility of defending against allegations that date back to the early 1960’s against priests who are deceased and where possible witnesses are either deceased or their whereabouts unknown. Statutes of limitations are neither legal technicalities nor loopholes- they are there so that the parties involved have the ability to get to the truth of the matter, what actually happened, how bad it was, the nature of the damage. The ability of the plaintiffs to establish their case and the ability of defendants to defend diminishes with the passage of time. Our system of jurisprudence seeks to avoid stale claims precisely because of their inherent unfairness. H.B. 7408 extends the historical period such that we will be trying to evaluate claims from the 1950’s. This will be about suits against dead priests who can not defend themselves.”
Click here for the remainder of her testimony.
Attorney Richard Colbert said 40 years would put the church at even a greater disadvantage than 30 years.
Sen. Ed Gomes, D-Bridgeport, who is a Catholic said “that’s not the victims fault.”
Amen Senator Gomes.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal submitted this testimony in favor of no statute of limitation in these types of cases.
Click here to read the legislation.
Comments (4)
Posted by: Sister M. Immaculata Dunn, Archdiocese of Philadelphia | April 5, 2007 8:59 AM
The testimony given by Nancy Matthews, the Bridgeport Diocesan Chancellor, is simply untrue.
Furthermore, it is not borne out in fact in any diocese in the United States, especially those who have declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the eve of going to court.
As she and the diocesan attorney, Colbert, know it is not so much the church's problem to defend against charges as it is for plaintiffs' to prove their cases.
More importantly, the various dioceses across the U.S., including the Bridgeport Diocese, have files on offending priests that changes in the law would force into public view.
The argument that, "The bill before you threatens to deplete the resources- human and financial- that support the charitable works of the Church," is untrue, it is a "strawman," if you will, in an attempt to prevent church secret files from becoming public.
I urge Connecticut lawmakers to pass H.B. 7408. Only in being made to face the truth will the church be renewed and truly be what was always meant to be.
Sister M. Immaculata Dunn
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
maryidunn@yahoo.com
Posted by: Maura | April 5, 2007 9:34 AM
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is not statute of limitations for any felonies.
Yet the Church has not gone bankrupt there. The Church continues to provide social services there.
The Hartford archdiocese's opposition to expanding the statute of limitations seems only to further confirm public perception that there is a LOT more evidence of Church leaders enabling pedophile priests that has not yet been discovered. I hope that is note true, yet I can see no other reason for Hartford to object to changing the statute of limitations.
As a Catholic, I have deep appreciation for those who have taken vocations and are speaking out in favor of truth and justice, such as Sister Immaculata above.
Posted by: Paul Livingston | April 5, 2007 9:50 AM
The truth of all the aduse in the church needs to come out. The church will heal when the truth comes out all the way. You don't half make a baby. You don't go half way to work. You don't half make a 3 point shot. You stole our childhood. You lied that it happened and now you offer up excuses.
Let us be heard by the people.
His will not yours.
Posted by: guest | April 5, 2007 4:11 PM
Do you know where the church sent many, many offenders? To the Order of the Paracelete in the mountains of New Mexico to get treatment. This is a treatment facility for priests with issues of one kind or another.
When they were done treating what in many cases were untreatable, recalcitrant pedophiles, guess where they sent them?
They often assigned them to be parish priests in churches in New Mexico.
What do you think of that? How do you think New Mexicans felt about that, when it came to light? Being the number one export destination for pedophiles from around the country?
As anyone can imagine, they subjected New Mexican catholics to an inordinate number of sexual offenders.
I bet some New Mexicans would have chosen a nuclear waste storage facility over being the unwitting host of the nation's pedophiles.