SAN DIEGO (CA)
Merced Search
Posted by Onell R. Soto
on Dec 24,2005
SAN DIEGO - A San Diego federal judge has rejected an effort by the Roman Catholic Church to declare unconstitutional a state law allowing lawsuits alleging long-ago sexual abuse by priests.
The ruling, made public Thursday, came as a result of an Escondido woman's lawsuit against a religious order in Ohio, which will now move forward.
It deals a blow to church efforts to overturn the California law that allowed hundreds of lawsuits up and down the state, including some 150 cases involving the San Diego diocese.
Many of the lawsuits contend that instead of protecting children, bishops and other superiors who were aware of abuse moved offenders around, sometimes to far-flung or low-income parishes.
Church officials say they did the best they could based on what was known about sexual abuse at the time, including putting problem priests through psychological counseling.