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	Church Fighting to Deny Justice to Victims By Kevin Hunt The Hartford Courant April 24, 2010 http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-hunt-abuse-saint-francis-cat.artapr25,0,7883133.story Several weeks ago, a victim in the St. Francis Hospital child sexual abuse case called me, sobbing and suicidal. "Nobody cares," he said. "Nobody cares." The Archdiocese of Hartford doesn't care, I told him. But Catholics care. People care. Someday, I said, the church and the hospital will apologize, acknowledging their responsibility, under the weight of public pressure, legal obligation or moral repentance. Do not give up, I told the victim, now over 50 years old. An apology is worth the fight. I pray for that day, too. I'm among the hundreds of victims abused by Dr. George Reardon under the hospital's roof and the church's crucifix. It's been 40 years now. I'm still waiting, and hoping, for some accountability. I have no faith the church will ever offer it voluntarily. House Bill 5473, currently under consideration in the state legislature, empowers all God's children who have been victims of sexual abuse, including those who file lawsuits beyond the current limit of age 48. Despite protestations by the Hartford Archdiocese, the bill is neither anti-Catholic nor anti-St. Francis. The church's cold-hearted, corporate response misled and deceived parishioners in a doomsday letter that appeared recently in church bulletins and as an advertisement in The Courant. Why didn't the church tell parishioners it has substantial liability insurance in the Reardon cases, by some estimates $300 million? The bill, despite what the church's letter says, does not eliminate the statute of limitations. It only allows older victims to join similar lawsuits filed by someone younger than 48 against the same defendant. It prevents frivolous and gratuitous lawsuits lacking physical evidence. Connecticut would not be alone in giving child sexual abuse victims broader rights. Alaska, Delaware and Maine, in fact, have eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases. If it becomes law, the Connecticut bill would give victims like me a new voice with a chance to have our cases heard in court, where both sides would swear to tell the truth. So help us God. The Vatican said this month that the church would do "all in its power to investigate allegations." Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, who must have missed the papal message, has urged parishioners to call legislators, reject the bill and destroy what might be older victims' last shot at justice. It's a living nightmare that never ends for victims whose lives were altered, diminished or destroyed at St. Francis. And what should parishioners tell legislators? We condone child sexual abuse in the church as long as it's not our child? We don't care about the victims? We don't believe in justice? St. Francisapparently dismissed the evidence in my case: Hidden documents found in late 2007 by the owner of Reardon's former home in West Hartford, among an avalanche of 50,000 slides and 100 film reels of child pornography, confirmed my mother's formal complaint in 1970 to the Hartford County Medical Association's Ethics and Deportment Committee, headed by St. Francis neurosurgeon Joseph Sadowski. How could St. Francis say it didn't know — or didn't have an obligation to know? It's using the thinnest of legal arguments, that Sadowski was not a full-time employee. Sound familiar? It's straight from the Catholic playbook: The church is expected to defend Pope Benedict XVI himself by arguing American bishops who oversaw pedophile priests are technically not "employees" of the Vatican? I know nothing about the church's "prayerful apology." When I detailed my experience in The Courant two years ago, I heard from hundreds of people and many victims, but not a word from the church or hospital. Two days later, Christopher M. Dadlez, the hospital's president and CEO, e-mailed St. Francis employees, asking that they "please try not to be discouraged by this kind of media coverage." I joined the 135-plus lawsuits against the hospital earlier this year after St. Francis walked away from a possible mediation settlement in late 2009. If nothing else, the strength of my case would help others. Now there is hope for justice for all victims. Tell your state representatives to listen to the children's voices. Don't let this die. House Bill 5473 would facilitate forgiveness, reconciliation and closure. May state legislators find the strength, and the courage, to pass it. SUSAN CAMPBELL Victims on one side, church on the other: C2
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