Having proven itself incapable of doing its own house cleaning of predatory priests and those in the hierarchy who enabled them and/or covered up their sexual abuse of minors, the Roman Catholic Church continues to oppose efforts of civil authorities to make sure that crimes sex against minors do not go unpunished. A case in point is legislation introduced by Maryland Sen. Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore County, which would change the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits against alleged abusers from 25 years of age to 50, and create a two-year window for retroactive claims previously barred by the current limit. Among those condemning the bill is Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, of the Baltimore archdiocese (pictured at left), who whines that the bill would allow frivolous lawsuits against the Church. I do not buy his crocodile tears given that if all the suits against the Church were frivolous, why has the Church paid out over $2 Billion in the USA alone? Here are some highlights from the Baltimore Sun:*
Al Chesley was sexually abused when he was 13, but the former NFL linebacker couldn't tell his horrible story for decades. Chesley, now 50, was abused by a Washington, D.C., police officer. "I wasn't able to talk about this to my mom, or my dad, who was a police officer," he said to state lawmakers Thursday after flying from California to Annapolis. "I couldn't tell him that it was one of his friends doing this to me," he said, his voice rising as he lost control of his emotions, as he described how it takes years before victims can seek justice.
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State Sen. Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore County, is proposing the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits against alleged abusers increase from 25 years of age to 50, and create a two-year window for retroactive claims previously barred by the current limit. "Victims don't wait around in silence, so they can file frivolous lawsuits, ... but live in fear of being named the guilty party and having their family torn apart," Kelley told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
State Sen. Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore County, is proposing the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits against alleged abusers increase from 25 years of age to 50, and create a two-year window for retroactive claims previously barred by the current limit. "Victims don't wait around in silence, so they can file frivolous lawsuits, ... but live in fear of being named the guilty party and having their family torn apart," Kelley told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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"The Maryland legislation ... is part of a coordinated national lobbying campaign aimed at making it easier for trial lawyers to bring monetary lawsuits ... against the Catholic Church and other private institutions," said Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, of the Baltimore archdiocese, in a letter he wrote Thursday in the Catholic Review.
