UNITED STATES
Enter Stage Right
By Alisa Craddock
web posted February 6, 2006
News of a New Hampshire bill (House Bill 1127) being reintroduced (it was voted down once already) to compel priests to report instances of suspected child abuse to the authorities (allowing for no exemption for the confessional) greets war weary Catholics this week, along with efforts in Massachusetts to force religious institutions to submit their financial records to the state, and Colorado's bill to suspend the statute of limitation s for child sexual abuse lawsuits (apparently not criminal prosecutions) for two years, including the possibility of suing some institutions for vicarious liability. This bill, however, would not include public schools where, next to the family, the greatest number of sexual abuse cases occurs. They have something called "sovereign immunity". So, let's face it, it's another effort to go after the Catholic Church and strip her of her money and her power, and to keep alive the image of her as a corrupt institution full of pedophiles in sheeps clothing so that they can justify further attacks on her.