CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 06, 2013
Stockton’s Catholic bishop is threatening to seek bankruptcy protection. Shame on him.
It’s a selfish cop-out when Catholic institutions misuse the Chapter 11 process to protect their secrets and deny child sex abuse victims a chance to expose predators in court. Make no mistake about it: that’s the real motivation here. It’s a lack of courage, not a lack of funds. It’s to protect reputations, not assets.
When bishops seek bankruptcy protection, all lawsuits, depositions, discovery and trials come to a screeching halt. The court plays no role in exposing wrongdoers or preventing wrongdoing. It just divides up money. So Catholics and citizens learn nothing about who is committing and concealing clergy child sex crimes.
This isn’t about protecting church assets. It’s about protecting the power and reputations of powerful church officials who desperately want to keep their complicity in child sex cases under wraps.
We hope every single man, woman and child who is being or has been molested by Stockton Catholic employees – past and present – will step forward, call police and protect others. And we hope every single person who saw or suspected crimes by Stockton Catholic employees will do the same.
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