Thank goodness for credible mainstream journalists who wade through complex, dense, and sometimes deceitful legal jargon in court filings. Their job is to take stilted, formal language that obscures and turn it into clear language that illuminates. Reporters have done this recently in two clergy sexual abuse cases – one in Louisiana and one in North Carolina. When they boil down the defenses used by Catholic officials, it becomes evident that the church hierarchy is really trying to protect itself, diminish children, dismiss victims, and hide cover-ups.
An article from the Guardian states, “Those opposing Louisiana’s civil abuse ‘window had given too much weight to the rights of alleged wrongdoers over abuse survivors’ rights to due process.” Plain and simple. Self-serving wrongdoers over wounded victims and vulnerable kids. That’s what defense lawyers – at the direction of bishops – are trying to protect. What’s at stake here with this new legal opportunity? Using direct, clear, non-legalistic terminology, the Guardian says that without the ‘window,’ struggling abuse victims have “the choice of either settling for relatively cheap or potentially getting nothing.”
In North Carolina, a school district – aided by the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte – is trying to stop scores of victims from having their day in court and thereby trying to protect scores of predators and enablers. Their claim, according to one news account, is that the window “is stripping North Carolina residents of their vested rights protected by the state constitution.” That right: “Once a claim has expired or the court has ruled on a case, it can’t be revived.”
In other words, the ‘rights’ of a criminal adult to evade accountability trumps the rights of innocent kids to avoid being raped and sodomized. According to that same news account, abuse, and cover-up lawsuits “burden organizations that are helping today’s children with the need to fight emotionally charged, decades-old claims.”
Would anyone buy this argument in any other context?
- “Suing the professor who raped students yesterday will burden colleges that are helping today’s students.”
- “Going to court against a doctor who sexually assaulted patients last year will burden medical practices that are helping ill people today.“
- “Seeking justice against officers who beat suspects earlier will burden police departments that are helping to protect citizens today.”
And what about the phrase ’emotionally charged?‘ Shouldn’t we all be ’emotionally charged‘ about the physical and emotional safety and well-being of boys and girls, as opposed to cold and uncaring? “Upholding the law, their defense lawyers claim, “would shift the costs of addressing decades-old claims onto today’s children and the hard-working men and women who are trying to help those children.”
We beg to differ. Upholding the new law PROTECTS, not punishes, both groups.
The window helps kids because it helps their parents learn who and where credibly accused child molesters are. And it helps because when employers see other employers facing serious consequences for wrongdoing, those employers are less apt to engage in wrongdoing themselves. The window helps adults who work with kids by enabling them to feel more confident that their colleagues are safe. It also helps
Finally, note that hundreds of Louisiana men and women aren’t reporting childhood sex abuse committed by nuns with Dominican Sisters of Peace. No, it’s Louisiana bishops and priests who are finally being hauled into court for unspeakable crimes against kids. So why aren’t any of the priests accused of rape and sodomy challenging the legal reform in Louisiana? Why aren’t any of the bishops accused of ignoring or hiding child sex crimes challenging this new law?
The obvious answer: Because decades of scandal involving male Catholic clergy have severely damaged the credibility, reputation, and prestige of these so-called ‘men of God.’
So again, church officials turn to their public relations professionals, who no doubt told them, “Very few people believe and respect you guys. If you want to win this thing, you’d better find some less discredited group of people to block even more revelations of your wrongdoing and challenge this ‘window.‘” What better group to carry water for bishops than a handful of nuns?
So we end where we started, thanking credible mainstream journalists for clearly spelling out the reasons why institutions fight victims and oppose legal reforms and let them drag the callous, the complicit, and the corrupt into courtrooms, where jurors get to decide what matters most: the rights of adults to enjoy immunity from long ago crimes or the rights of children to enjoy safe childhoods.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by religious authority figures and other clergy. If you need a lawyer because a member of a religious organization sexually abused you, contact us today at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse nationwide. We can help.