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  Editorial: It's Time to Protect Sex-Abuse Victims

The Daily Times [Pennsylvania]
October 24, 2005

For the victims of sexually abusive priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, justice has been elusive. Because of Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations, the alleged victims of 63 priests named last month in a Philadelphia grand jury report are unable to file criminal charges.

While the statute was expanded about two years ago to allow abuse charges to be filed up until the victim's 30th birthday, it has proved useless to the victims who had the courage to testify before the grand jury.

Their abuse allegedly occurred 10, 20, 30, even 40 years ago. Some say they were victimized as far back as the 1950s.

Eighteen of these alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse-- 10 who are current or former Delaware County residents -- were uncovered through civil suits they filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on the premise that archdiocesan officials knowingly harbored the pedophiles.

Justice again seemed out of reach for these victims on Sept. 27, six days after the grand jury report was issued, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that an appeal of their lawsuits against the archdiocese was not even worth hearing.

While judges offered no reason for the slight, it most likely was based on lower court rulings that determined the cases couldn't fly because of the statute of limitations.

Their lawyer maintains the cases should go forward because the archdiocese failed in its responsibility to protect the children in its parishes. He plans to file a petition of extraordinary relief with the hope that the state Supreme Court justices will reconsider their decision not to hear the appeal on the basis they were unaware of the grand jury findings.

The plaintiffs' allegations against the archdiocese seem credible considering the archdiocesan records included in the grand jury report which, in many cases, showed that priests repeatedly accused of abuse were transferred from parish to parish.

Some underwent psychiatric treatment and were removed from active ministry. Some were recently dismissed from the priesthood by the Vatican -- in one case, 40 years after he was accused of abuse.

None were removed from society because archdiocesan officials did not report these suspected pedophiles to civil authorities.

In fact, those who are still alive are still free to move about society and potentially prey on more children.

The names of the alleged abusers were only made public on Sept. 21 because they were part of the grand jury report.

Last week national and local leaders of Survivors of Those Abused by Priests and Other Clergy, also known as SNAP, called upon state legislators to enact several changes in Pennsylvania law so pedophiles cannot elude justice in the future.

Among those changes are the elimination of current criminal and civil statutes of limitations for sexual offenses against children and holding unincorporated associations such as the archdiocese to the same standard as corporations for crimes concerning the sexual abuse of children.

Members of SNAP and the grand jury are right: These changes to Pennsylvania law must be made so that known pedophiles are not free to prey on more victims simply because they beat the clock.

The law should also be changed so as not to enable Catholic hierarchy or officials of any other unincorporated association to dodge liability for protecting suspected pedophiles from criminal prosecution.

Last week SNAP members also called on state legislators to open a one-year "window" suspending current Pennsylvania statutes of limitations for adult victims so they can file civil suits against their abusers.

California's one-year window triggered more than 800 lawsuits and led to the removal of many abusive teachers, coaches and ministers, according to SNAP officials.

In a prepared statement, archdiocesan officials said they support "strengthening Pennsylvania laws in order to better protect children including the criminal statute of limitations for sexual offenses against children."

However, archdiocesan spokeswoman Donna Farrell said church officials would not support the one-year window because they don't see it "as a workable solution."

"If you were to implement retroactivity, you run into problems with people who are deceased or unavailable. You would also be dealing with incomplete records and faded memories," said Farrell.

Unfortunately she is correct. Such a piece of retroactive legislation would be fraught with potentially flawed testimony and questions ofconstitutional viability.

That, however, does not absolve archdiocesan officials from full disclosure of suspected pedophiles now known to them.

Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali should expand his efforts to inform the public of suspected pedophiles in the archdiocesan ranks beyond Catholic parishes, the archdiocesan newspaper and the archdiocesan Web site.

At this stage of the game, the grand jury has probably done that job for him. But if archdiocesan officials know the whereabouts of suspected pedophiles, they should make them known to the general public.

People who prey on children do not discriminate because of religion and they don't stop being abusers just because they no longer wear Roman collars.

 
 

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