The Catholic Church has won.That’s what disappointed advocates for the victims of child sex abuse are saying in the wake of dropped legislation that would have allowed victims more time to file civil lawsuits against alleged abusers.
The bill, introduced by Del. Eric Bromwell, was designed to extend the statute of limitations for victims who may not have been ready to come forward until decades after the abuse, but the Maryland Catholic Conference and Archdiocese of Baltimore aggressively fought the bill, saying it could bankrupt Catholic parishes, schools and social services by forcing them to fund lawsuits.
“What other institution in the world says we can’t give you justice because it’s going to cost us money.” asked Frank Dingle, a member of the Greater Baltimore Voice of the Faithful and director of Baltimore’s Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
“Now, 97 percent of Maryland’s sexually abused children are not being taken care of because [Baltimore Archbishop Edwin] O’Brien is taking care of church assets.”
But archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine said the bill only applies to civil suits and does not prevent abusers from being held accountable, because there is no statute of limitations on felonies in Maryland.
“The bill is strictly about civil lawsuits,” he said. “We’re not talking about justice in the sense that this bill would be putting people behind bars — that’s not truth.”
Under existing law, child sex-abuse civil suits must be filed by the victim’s 25th birthday. The bill would have opened 2009 to lawsuits, regardless of the victim’s age. After 2009, the statute of limitations would extend to the victim’s 50th birthday.
Dingle, who says he’s embarrassed to call himself a faithful Catholic, became involved in SNAP out of outrage. He has lobbied for the legislation since 2003 and said he’s tried unsuccessfully to speak with O’Brien about it — most recently at the Feb. 18 Maryland Catholic Lobby Night in Annapolis, where, according to Dingle, Caine intervened.
“He’s never formally requested to meet with the archdiocese that I’m aware of,” Caine said. “And I know he’s had lengthy meetings with representatives of the church. If he would like to meet with the archbishop, all he has to do is write a letter to the office.”
According to Dingle, the bill failed because of “bullying tactics” and “political maneuvering” from the state’s Catholic leadership. The local parish leaders, Dingle said, were asked to speak out against the recent bill at every Sunday mass, and parishioners were urged to contact legislators.
“The problem is every institution has incentive to destroy evidence, threaten witnesses, hide the truth and run out the clock,” said SNAP national director David Clohessy, who, along with his three brothers, was abused by a pastor in the late 1960s. “The window bill wouldn’t let them do that. It would enable us to expose predators and corrupt employers and thereby deter future wrongdoing. When the window fails, we’re saying in essence that a bishop’s secrets matter more than children’s safety.”
The bill would have applied to all victims of child sex abuse, and national statistics indicate that 90 percent of child molesters are known to the child, but less than 2 to 3 percent are clergy, according to Dingle.
The Maryland Catholic Conference declined comment and directed questions to the archbishop.
O’Brien said the bill would unfairly punish the Catholic Church by forcing it to put millions of dollars toward litigation while hampering its ability to do charitable work. Similar legislation has failed five times, he said.
But Dingle said national statistics indicate about 85 percent of the funding for Catholic Charity Social Services comes from taxpayers via government grants, and only 1 percent comes from parishes. Caine said it’s closer to 70 percent in grants and that they “go to the programs themselves [and] don’t fund the infrastructure of charities or staffing and day-to-day operations.”
Clohessy said the money is a smokescreen, and the Catholic Church can’t have it both ways.
“They can’t claim, ‘We’ve dealt with this and there’s no problem anymore,’ and at the same time say if victims had their day in court it would bankrupt the church,” he said.
O’Brien said the archdiocese is actively reaching out to victims to encourage them to come forward, and he has personally visited with victims.
Caine added the archdiocese has “a long-standing policy of announcing allegations of abuse” through literature sent to parishes and schools and the Catholic Review.
“That demonstrates the archdiocese’s commitment to victims and finding other victims,” he said.
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