PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Catholic
By A. B. Hill
HARRISBURG – Parish volunteers and employees who work with children know firsthand the measures now in place to protect the children in their care from abuse, including background checks and safe environment training about recognizing and reporting signs of abuse.
However, state lawmakers are considering amendments to legislation that could lead to the closure of parishes, schools, and ministries of today’s Catholics, who are in no way responsible for abuse that occurred decades ago.
The proposal would retroactively nullify the statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit alleging childhood sexual abuse. It would force parishes, dioceses, schools, and charities to defend cases that are 30, 40 or 50 years old, long after the perpetrator and possible witnesses have died or clear evidence is gone.
“Every nonprofit organization is at risk,” says Robert O’Hara Jr., executive director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, “Nothing in the proposed Pennsylvania legislation would send any perpetrators to jail. Rather, it will put individual parishes and neighborhood Catholic schools in the firing line for lawsuits that are nearly impossible to defend against.”
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