Editorial

Abuse accountability

When it comes to sexual abuse of minors, any defense the Catholic Church makes for itself runs the risk of coming off as insincere contrition.

If the Church were truly contrite, the thinking goes, its efforts to rectify the horrible wrongs committed by its clergy -- both the abusers and the bishops whose weak governance permitted, and sometimes facilitated, them -- would know no bounds. None. If bankrupt dioceses be the price to pay, so be it.

That thinking has a certain evangelical and prophetic ring. Today, the U.S. Church is being led to the slaughter by legislators and lawyers going after deep pockets for contingency fees. For many Catholics, a sense of guilt and sympathy for the victims -- and maybe disillusionment at the monumental betrayal of trust by our Church leaders -- tempers any outrage they might otherwise feel.

But that sort of thinking is another betrayal that ultimately will lead to more injustice and damaged lives.

With state legislatures back in session, the Church is facing a dozen new bills that would retroactively remove time limits for filing civil suits in sex abuse cases (see story, Page 3), texposing the Church in those states to new and nearly incalculable liability for alleged incidents that can stretch back many decades and in many cases involve priests who are no longer alive.

In Maryland, where one such bill has been proposed, Baltimore's Archbishop Edwin O'Brien has warned that the legislation "would financially devastate the archdiocese, our parishes and ministries."

There are a number of problems with bills like this. Not least is the erosion that constitutional lawyers are likely to lament of fundamental principles in our legal system that are designed to protect all parties by guaranteeing timely adjudication of civil matters.

Another problem noted is that such bills could actually undermine current child protection laws by removing one reason for immediate reporting of child abuse.

But what bothers us most is that the Church is the not-so-secret target of these bills. As crafted, the bills would only affect private institutions like the Church. In the Maryland legislature,much of the testimony supporting the bill cited the Church, and clerical abuse in other states.

Yes, the image of clerical abusers is the one burned most deeply in the national consciousness and as Catholics we are rightly most pained by it. But the facts, as shown in study after study, demonstrate that the sex abuse of children is not a strictly -- nor even predominantly -- institutional Catholic problem.

The story that has yet to be fully told is sexual abuse that continues to occur in our public schools. A 2007 study by The Associated Press found about 2,600 teachers were sanctioned for sexual misconduct over a five-year period.

But public institutions like schools are exempt from the new bills. They'd retain their tighter deadlines for filing suits and monetary caps on damages.

If the goal truly is to protect children, government should not hold private organizations like the Church accountable while ignoring its own institutions.

Our defense of the Church and its rights must be characterized by a humility forged by shame. The enemy here is not the victims of abuse. The enemy is the mental illness and sin behind the sexual abuse of minors, and the sluggishness with which our society is addressing it regardless of where it is found.