Dolan Calls Child Victims Act " Unjust" to Church

By Celeste Katz
New York Daily News
March 12, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2012/03/dolan-calls-child-victims-act-unjust-to-church


Timothy Cardinal Dolan hit Albany for a round of lobbying on issues close to the heart of the Catholic Church, with those ranging from abortion to same-sex marriage. Per our Glenn Blain, Dolan also spoke at length about a subject arguably as controversial as either of those: The Child Victims Act, which would extend the statute of limitations in clergy sexual abuse cases.

"We feel that this is terribly unjust. It singles [out] the church and it would be -- and I use the word purposefully -- devastating for the life of the church," Dolan told reporters gathered in the LCA, as you can see from the pic at right from Blain's Twitter feed.

"And the governor listens. He's a good lawyer. He reminded us of his allegiance to classical jurisprudence that would see a great benefit in the protection of the statute of limitations to see that the innocent of protected and that justice is done," he said.

A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey would extend the statute of limitations by five years, until victims turn 28, in civil and criminal cases. State Sen. Andrew Lanza has a similar bill in his chamber.

As our Michael O'Keefe noted in a February story about documentarian and abuse survivor Chris Gavagan, concerns about long-unaddressed molestations go beyond the clerical or church realm to domains such as sports.

Later, Dolan told reporters of his lobbying against the Child Victims Act, even when judgments are brought in years-old cases involving the church, "the people that -- the perpetrators don't suffer. There is no burden on them. What suffers are the services and the ministries and the apostolates that we're doing now. Because where does the money come from? So the bishops of 30 years ago that allegedly may have re-assigned abusers, they don't suffer. They're dead, all right? So the people that suffer are those who are being served right now by the church. And we feel that is a terribly unjust burden. That schools close and charities shrink, all the good work that the church does."

Dolan also said the bishops have been "contrite" in admitting the church has handled molestation scandals poorly, but is trying to do more now -- and isn't getting credit for that: So it does bother us that the church continues to be a whipping boy and that year after year after year this piece of legislation that feel would unjustly target the church keeps being presented."

Generally, Dolan said his meeting with Cuomo "went very well."

"We always enjoy our meetings with the governors. But with Gov. Cuomo, they are particularly friendly and substantive," Dolan said. "I don't mind telling you we thanked him and congratulated him that he seems to have restored a sense of trust and confidence, competence in state government. And we thanked him for that."

Dolan said the bishops expressed their concerns about the Reproductive Health Act:

"For one it seems to be predicated upon almost a paranoia that abortion rights, the abortion license is being restrained or setback. We kind of wish it were and it's not. If anything, we keep seeing it being expanded. Secondly, we are worried about an intrusion of the life of the church. Our attorneys tell us be careful because if this law passes, church health facilities and hospitals may be coerced to doing abortions. We just think there needs to be some movement on the other side… Instead of expanding the license, we'd like to see some prudent restraint about it."

On gay marriage, Dolan said they expressed worries to Cuomo about the implementation of the law -- that it's implementation might intrude on "the integrity of the church."

He also tried to downplay any hard feelings toward the Senate over the body's vote -- with the help of some Republicans -- to legalize same-sex marriage.

"Look, we don't need to blame anybody or lower the blame on one single person or group of people in the disappointment that we experienced over the re-definition of marriage. We bishops probably look back and said we would have been more vigilant had we thought there was distinct possibility of the passage. But our disapproval and our chagrin would extend to ever body. We don't want to blame any one group of people who have let us down."

It wasn't all heavy treading: Dolan opened the presser with a crack about the empty booze bottles he spotted in the LCA during his last lobbying visit. "Last year when I was here, there were some refreshments up on that shelf, what happened to them? I took note of those."