BishopAccountability.org
	Let Abuse Victims' Voices Be Heard in Court Editorial Delco Times [Philadelphia PA] September 19, 2006 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17214688 &BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18168&rfi=6 On Friday, Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia, called some 300 priests and a handful of lay people to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary to hear, firsthand, graphic accounts of molestation and rape at the hands of the Catholic clergy. Dubbed "Witness to Sorrow," the session was billed as an opportunity for priests to listen to sexual-abuse victims and confront the horror that has festered in the church for years. "It is extremely important for us to hear their stories firsthand so that we may see the human face and hear the human voice," Rigali said. On Monday, the cardinal sent his lawyers to federal court in Philadelphia, where they asked a judge to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed by 14 people who claimed they were abused by priests as children. The archdiocese, it turns out, wants to hear the human voices of the victims - just not in a courtroom. It's the latest twist in a tale of deceit and hypocrisy that sickens self-respecting Catholics and continues to besmirch the names and deeds of innocent priests and nuns who just want to practice their vocations. A three-year grand jury investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office has graphically documented decades of sexual abuse in the archdiocese. It named 63 priests who allegedly abused children as far back as the 1950s. Forty-three of those priests had connections with Delaware County at some point. Its findings mirror those from dioceses across the nation and, indeed, from across the world. The archdiocese responded by attacking the grand jury's work and accusing the prosecutors of anti-Catholic bias. But it didn't stick. The church's history of covering up abuse claims, of transferring the transgressors, and intimidating the victims and their families, is now beyond question. But in Pennsylvania, none of those priests could be prosecuted because the statute of limitation for the crime had run out. Previous attempts to hold the church liable in civil court have failed when judges cited that fact. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia tried a new tack. It charged the archdiocese with civil rights violations and racketeering, of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to evade responsibility for the actions of its agents. As a legal theory, it seems to have merit. At the very least, it's worth putting before a jury. But that's the last thing Cardinal Rigali and his legal team wants to happen. Whatever the judge decides, it's clear that the archdiocese's major concern is all about money. It will do whatever it has to in order to evade the civil judgments that it so richly deserves to pay to the victims. That's why it is urgent that the state Legislature change the law to allow those who permitted this horror to be held accountable. The Philadelphia grand jury recommended that the state abolish the statute of limitations and amend the law so it would allow unincorporated associations such as the archdiocese to be held to the same standard as corporations for crimes concerning the sexual abuse of children. Several bills have been introduced to address the problem. One would open a one-year "window" in which victims of sexual abuse would be allowed to file a civil lawsuit no matter how old the accusations are. That measure deserves enactment. The cardinal and his dream team of attorneys should see the faces and hear the voices of the victims of the church's monstrous negligence. But not in a seminary. They should hear the victims in a courtroom - the only venue that can belatedly deliver a small measure of justice and, mercifully, begin to assuage their pain.
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