According to a June 1, 2019, New York Daily Star article, a report commissioned by lawyers of priest sex abuse victims calls into question recent ecclesiastical response to Catholic sex abuse cases. The report claims that in New York State alone, the Catholic Church spent almost $3 million lobbying against or to stall bills that would reform the antiquated statute of limitations laws in child sex abuse cases.

These laws have prevented many adult victims of clergy abuse from suing their perpetrators or the institution whose leaders may have covered up priest misdeeds.

Since the release of a Grand Jury report in 2018 releasing the names of 300 pedophilic priests in the State of Pennsylvania, ecclesiastical response to Catholic sex abuse cases, particularly from the Vatican, has been supportive of victims of the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. As indicated by an article posted on June 6, 2019, by CBS News, Pope Francis was noted as saying in August of last year:

“The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.”

New York Child Victim’s Act Opposition

In February, the Child Victim’s Act (CVA) was signed into law in New York State. The lobbying effort on the part of the Catholic Church was centered around blocking this important legislation.

The CVA empowers adult victims of child sexual abuse by extending the amount of time they have to bring criminal charges and civil lawsuits against perpetrators and the institutions that have protected them.

Whereas the former statute of limitations prevented a victim of clergy abuse from filing criminal charges or civil lawsuits beyond the age of 23, CVA now extends that age to 28 for criminal charges and 55 for civil lawsuits. Effective six months from being signed into law, any victim formerly blocked by old statute of limitations laws will have one year to reopen and “grandfather” their case.

Public ecclesiastical response to Catholic sex abuse cases and victim support remains the same despite the report on lobbying monies against CVA. According to a spokesperson from New York’s Catholic Conference interviewed by the Daily Star,

“While we did raise concerns about the one-year look back in the Child Victims Act, the bishops of New York State have long supported reform of the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse,” [Dennis] Poust said.

He went onto claim that opposition to CVA was dropped when legislators amended the bill to expand a victim’s ability to sue public institutions as well as private ones. School districts were provided as an example of a public institution.

New York is Not the Only One

Also, according to the lobbying report, other Northeastern states have been at the center of Catholic Church lobbying efforts. Spending in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, together with New York pushed the grand total to $10.6 million spent since 2011, according to a June 9, 2019 article in Allied News.

All of the lobby monies were geared toward fighting the expansion of victim statute of limitation laws and other rights.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.