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THE ON-GOING WAR AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA

This article was prepared exclusively for the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished retired judge John Wilson.

The allegations are nothing short of horrific.  Over the past 50 years, if not longer, Catholic priests across the nation engaged in sexual activity with young children, most of whom they were responsible to supervise from a position of authority over these same children.  Recently, in New Mexico, former priest Arthur Perrault was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the abuse of an altar boy who was just 10 years old when the abuse began.    This August, another priest was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls, age 9 and 13, in Washington DC. 

                There is also no dispute that for many years, the Catholic Church in America did nothing to prevent incidents like these, except to move the offending priest from one parish to another.  As long ago as 2002, the Boston Globe reported that approximately 70 Boston-area priests had been accused of sexual abuse.  “Many of these abuse cases were known to the offending priests’ superiors. In several instances, church superiors had moved offending priests to other parishes — where they would remain in daily contact with a new batch of children — rather than punish them internally or report the cases to civil authorities.”

                There is no defending or justifying this abuse of the trust Catholic parents had placed in their spiritual leaders.  In fact, both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have repeatedly asked for the forgiveness of the victims of the abuse.    But many victims are not in a forgiving mood.

                These victims have found a friend in the New York State Legislature, who recently enacted the Child Victims Act, which not only extended the age by which a person can bring criminal charges for a sexual assault that occurred before they were 18 years old, but also literally revived time-barred civil claims by persons who failed to bring lawsuits during the applicable limitations period. 

                In other words, in New York, you now have a year and a half to bring a lawsuit and allege sexual abuse when you were a minor, irrespective of when that abuse occurred.

                Though this may sound like an attempt to give these victims a measure of justice, the practical effect of this change in the law is more insidious.  As a lawyer, the question of proof regarding the allegations made by someone alleging an incident that may have happened in 1965 is of great concern.  Supposed the alleged abuser is dead, or incapable of giving testimony in his defense?  What physical evidence for the allegations made by the abused can be presented to a jury?  Is the alleged victim to be taken at their word alone, or would the testimony of a psychologist be sufficient proof, even if that testimony is based upon information received solely from the plaintiff?  Is the mere fact that the abused was a student of the abuser, or an altar boy, or attended the same parish as the abuser 30 years ago sufficient to establish the allegations made by the abused?

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                Though questions like this may concern me, they do not appear to be of concern to the lawyers bringing the revived lawsuits against the Catholic Church.  At last count, almost 400 cases have been brought in New York State since the Child Victims Act was enacted in February, 169 of those claims filed in New York City alone.  CNN reports that the law firm of Weitz and Luxenberg has 1,200 clients in New York State awaiting their turns to file.  

                In September of this year, 10 lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Brooklyn for abuse that is alleged to have occurred between the 1950’s and the 1980’s.  One of those accused is alleged to have committed his crimes in the 1970’s, however, a previous investigation of the claim by the NYPD ruled the allegations “unfounded.”  This hasn’t stopped this same claimant from filing suit against the Church under the new law.  

                The practical effect of a change in the law such as this is to create a floodgate of litigation that is difficult to prove, and even more difficult to defend against.  Anticipating catastrophic financial loss, several Catholic Dioceses have sought the protection of the bankruptcy courts, including the Archdiocese of Rochester, NY  and the Archdiocese of New Mexico.  In fact, since 2004, 19 Dioceses and Archdioceses have filed for bankruptcy in the face of litigation brought by abuse survivors. 

                Perhaps this is what many of the lawyers and their clients intend.  A profile of Minneapolis Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is estimated to have earned “hundreds of millions” of dollars by suing the Catholic Church, is unflatteringly described in this fashion: “Civil attorneys like Jeff Anderson…meet with someone for a few minutes, lump allegations together, throw lawsuits at the wall, and see what sticks. In the meantime, men’s lives are being ruined. They don’t care. And if they say they know that everyone they have targeted is guilty, they’re lying to you or to themselves.” 

                This concerted and years-long attack on the Catholic Church in America has amounted to a war, and it is a war the Church is losing.  Is it the intention of those lawyers and victims waging this war to drive the Church “out of business?” 

                Only the attorneys bringing the cases against the Church can explain their own motives. Attorney Eric MacLeish, who brought a series of high-profile cases against the Archdiocese of Boston beginning as early as 1992, has stated that though he himself was a victim of sexual abuse when a child, the litigation he brought against the Church is “no crusade. I’m not getting back at people because of what happened to me as a young man. There is no private vendetta going on here.”   

But at the same time, when MacLeish was accused of making prejudicial comments to the press regarding the former Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston, Bernard Law, MacLeish reportedly made the following statement, ”If they want a war, they’re going to get one.”

                If we are to judge those bringing these lawsuits by their actions, and not by their conflicting words, then their intentions are clear – it’s a war on the Catholic Church in America, and at this stage, where there appears to be very little effort made to determine which allegations are truthful, and which are motivated by other reasons, its shoot first, and ask questions later.

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