PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal
June 20, 2019
By Katherine Gregg
With the legislative session nearing an end, a handful of Rhode Island victims of childhood sexual abuse came to the State House to beg Senate leaders to remove a potential new barrier to lawsuits against the church and any other “youth-serving” institutions that failed to stop past abuse.
The Rhode Island Catholic Church lost one major State House battle with the historic passage on Wednesday night of an abortion-rights law, but it is still waging war on a second legislative front: the potential cost of clergy sex abuse.
With the legislative session nearing an end, a half dozen or so Rhode Island victims of childhood sexual abuse came to the State House to beg Senate leaders to remove a potential new barrier to lawsuits against the church and any other “youth-serving” institutions that failed to stop past abuse.
They included long-ago abuse victim Josephine O’Connell of Providence, 78, who came with a sign that said: “Justice for Childhood Victims.″
Kathryn Robb — a lawyer, victim and executive director of the national advocacy group Child USA — told a news conference:
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