BishopAccountability.org
	Church Suit Bill Is Abuse of Justice By David Harsanyi Denver Post [Colorado] March 6, 2006 http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3572676 God knows, the Catholic Church's hands are dirty when it comes to pedophile priests. Literally ... God knows. With that said, Colorado Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald's recent bill targeting the church may appear to offer justice for those sexual abuse victims, but in reality it is transparently discriminatory and trashes a basic civil right of the accused. Senate Bill 143 would open a two-year window to allow the filing of sex-abuse lawsuits against nonprofit organizations and churches that would normally be beyond the statute of limitations. In other words, an 80-year-old could sue the church for alleged crimes against him of 70 years ago - and walk away with millions. "Many Catholics are parents," explains Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput. "They rightly sympathize with sexual abuse victims, and they want to protect their own children. As a church, we understand and regret the suffering of abuse victims. We're committed to helping them heal." Whether the church is sincerely committed to victims or not, what excuse does a legislator have in abandoning basic judicial fairness and cherry-picking victims? Fitz-Gerald, who has backed off a bit on the bill's original language, is "baffled" that there are those who still believe in the right of the accused - yes, even accused child molesters with silly hats or clerical collars. For those who aren't simply out witch-hunting, the question should be: Decades after these alleged crimes were committed, can there be a fair trial in one of these emotionally and politically charged cases? After all, long before Fitz-Gerald was spurred by a tragic story in the newspaper, our legal tradition has included statutes of limitations for sound reasons. First, they bring us closure. At some point, society can no longer moderate a dispute or come to a resolution. Second, they bring a level of fairness. Memories fade. Evidence is lost. Witnesses die. "SB 143 is bad public policy and bad law - not just for religious people, but for everybody in Colorado," says Chaput. "Retroactive liability is a fundamentally bad idea. It has nothing to do with justice. It amounts to changing the rules after the fact, and the people who end up paying the burden are almost always innocent, ordinary folks who had nothing to do with events 25, 40 or 60 years ago." So, what is this really about? Obviously, Chaput has a dog in this fight. But it's hard to dispute his contention that SB 143 closely mirrors the language of a California bill written with the help of trial lawyers. At first, Fitz-Gerald accused her critics of impugning her motivation by suggesting that she was doing the bidding of trial lawyers. Subsequently, she released more than 1,000 pages of documents to prove her intentions were pure. That was a mistake. Radio host, lawyer and church defender Dan Caplis sifted through them and posted numerous correspondences between Fitz-Gerald and trial lawyers, in which they offered helpful advice on how to put the Catholic Church out of business - whether that was her motivation or not. Chaput says that financially crushing innocent parishioners today for events that happened before many of them were born is not justice. "Ask California Catholics," says Chaput. "They're dealing with the California law that Colorado SB 143 is modeled on. It's a financial and legal catastrophe." Frankly, it's hard to shed tears for a Catholic Church that has an ugly history of abuse and coverups. But does that mean the church deserves less protection than other institutions or individuals? "The sexual abuse of minors is a much wider problem than anyone has wanted to admit," contends Chaput. "It's been easier for the past 20 years to shrug this crime off as a Catholic problem, but the facts just don't support that kind of complacency." David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
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