FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Linda P. Campbell
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Could the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth have chosen a more ironic argument for keeping secret the files concerning eight priests accused of sexual abuse than this: the victims' privacy is at stake?
Certainly, those who accused the priests have a privacy interest in records that a Tarrant County court might make public. But forgive me for wondering whether the diocese ought to be entrusted with protecting the best interests of those individuals.
During a hearing last week, lawyers representing the diocese, one of the priests and the Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News debated whether the files should be made open to the public -- a ling-ering issue in a lawsuit that the diocese settled in the spring for $4.15 million plus $994,000 in legal fees.
Paul Watler, representing the newspapers, made several legal arguments on which the case might turn.
For instance, privacy rights belong person-ally to individuals. As such, the diocese has no legally recognized privacy rights of its own, and it has no legal standing to argue for protecting the privacy rights of others, either the victims or the priests. Besides, he said, the newspapers aren't interested in the victims' identifying information, just other details in the documents.