Seriously?
(From AHN)
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Jewish officials in New York are opposed to approval of the Child Victims Act pending before the state legislature. The proposal aims to temporarily remove the statute of limitations for lawsuits concerning sexual abuse of children.Jeremiah 22:3 says:
This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.Catholics, WTFWJD? Jews, WTF?
12 comments:
Well what would the church do if all the children that were wronged were able to do something about it? They wouldn't have any priests left!
Srsly. In fact a lot of them are pretty awesome people, like my cousin the Bazilian.
I was just kidding, I didn't mean to offend. It just pisses me off when people are against children that have been molested getting justice. I know people that have been molested as children (not by priests), and so I know that just because it's over doesn't make it go away in their mind. Not only that, but if they've molested once they will do it again, and they shouldn't just be punished for the child/children brave enough to speak up when it happens. Sorry for offending, you have to know me to understand my humour... apparently even my brother doesn't understand it, which I find sad.
I in now defend child molesters in any way. Ever. I just want to make that very clear. But I think the Church's opposition probably has more to do with limiting damages than anything regarding justice. I'm not saying that's necessarily right but a few years ago the Achdiocese of Portland, OR was faced with closing parish schools, some of which serve high-poverty neighborhoods. Again, not defending child molesters or even supporting the Church's stance here but I don't think that current and future generations should lose their opportunity for a good education so some trial lawyer can win a big fat settlement. And it's almost always the trial lawyers pushing for this kind of thing, not victims.
If the victims didn't sue, there would be no damages. The trial lawyers can't do it by themselves. Yes, it's about limiting damages. But if you don't hit them where it hurts, why should they change? And when they cover up what happens then they are guilty. And where they are guilty they should pay. And if they're going to economize by closing parish schools instead of selling off a chunk of the giant stockpile of Vatican treasure, well, that's a sad thing and a poor reflection on their priorities, which are already suspect at best.
It's certainly a sad day if somebody's only opportunity for a good education is in the hands of an agency that covers up child abuse. But that's yet another problem with our educational system. And this is not even about putting a cap on amounts, but about keeping a whole class of victims from being able to sue at all.
What Phoebe said.
Victims aren't suing the Vatican, they are suing individual archdioceses or individual religious orders (such as the NW Jesuits). Most Catholic parishes are struggling to stay above water as it is. I strongly believe that those victims deserve justice. I don't know anyone who would disagree with that. But I went through 12 years of Catholic school on grants and scholarships because my single mom couldn't pay my tuition without help from the parish. I don't think that thousands of poor kids like me should be deprived of a religious education because a minority of the hierarchy are bad nasty people. In other words, the people who committed the crime should pay, not the faithful who had no knowledge of it until it came out in the news.
Hannah, I see what you're saying and I fully understand where you're coming from, but it's more than just a minority in the hierarchy who are the bad nasty people here. There are two kinds of bad nasty people: ones who do bad nasty things, and ones who allow bad nasty things to happen.
While I find it tragic that schools are closing as a result of these lawsuits, I really think that the only way to get the hierarchy to stop covering this shit up and allowing it to happen is to make it financially worth their while to not cover this shit up and not let it happen.
Catholic schools in Canada receive equal government funding to the secular schools. I think that would be a better cause to fight for in the United States than statute of limitations laws.
The US government doesn't fund religious schools for the same reason public schools don't teach religion - separation of church and state.
BTW, 4% of priests who served between 1950 and 2002 were accused of some kind of sex abuse. So yeah, I'm going to call that a minority.
Hannah, I call that a minority too, but unless the majority are willing to stand up against them, everyone has to pay.
I think it really comes down to how many legislators stand up for or against this matter that is before the New York Legislature. This isn't a spiritual matter we're talking about, it's a legal matter. Sometimes it becomes necessary to acknowledge the difference.
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