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dimbear

(6,271 posts)
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:44 PM Jun 2013

New Jersey Catholic Church lobbies to keep sex abuse victims silent.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/13/1215940/-New-Jersey-Catholic-Church-lobbies-to-keep-victims-of-abuse-silent

Over at Kos........

"Protect the child molesters" doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible that I know of, but the New Jersey Catholic Conference seems to be acting like it does, hiring the most expensive and powerful lobbying firm in Trenton, Princeton Public Affairs, to fight against Vitale's bill.

This isn't a New Jersey-specific issue. The Catholic Church has been active in pushing back proposals that lengthen the time allowed for victims of alleged abuse to come forward. And in addition to New Jersey, high-priced lobbyists have been hired in Colorado and New York to fight similar attempts.

*************
Maybe 30 years is too long, but 2 years is certainly too short, IMHO.
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Swede Atlanta

(3,596 posts)
1. The Catholic Church continues to push the envelope
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:51 PM
Jun 2013

(1) Mandating celibacy means that men (and of course only men) in the priesthood can only wank their wieners and of course only in shame. Sexuality is a natural part of a human's life and should be celebrated and not hindered. This means there are sexually-repressed heterosexual priests as well as homosexual ones.

(2) When you pen up the natural sexual needs of these men it will explode somewhere. It has exploded in the form of rape of young girls and boys. But the church wants to hide that and run away from it. They run away not only from the act but from the fact their policies create this behavior.

(3) The best thing the papists could do would be to issue an immense apology, pay retribution and demonstrate reform. But we know they can't or won't because they have prelates who are scared for their gowns and will never admit wrong doing because they don't want to trade their brocade cover with prison garb.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
17. The Catholic church is spending money fighting the change to the statute of limitations
Mon Jun 17, 2013, 03:58 AM
Jun 2013

That's why it's relevant. They're handing over the money that members might have thought would go towards doing good, or at least to the everyday running costs of buildings, employees etc., to a bunch of PR hacks. The church is involving itself in lawmaking. Paragraph 3 of reply #1 explains it to you.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
2. How do you feel about statues of limitations in general?
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:53 PM
Jun 2013

Forget the Catholic Church, your opinion on it is obvious.

Do you see a point of time after which it is impossible to defend against an allegation?

Response to rug (Reply #2)

dimbear

(6,271 posts)
11. I agree they need to be maintained. As I remark toward the bottom of my post, perhaps
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 09:07 PM
Jun 2013

30 years is too much. I'm sure 2 years is too little.

 

Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
12. And how do they get this money to defend
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 09:21 PM
Jun 2013

The indefensible? Through their collection plates. Those that go to their churches, support them ALL the way. IMO Shame on YOU.

goldent

(1,582 posts)
14. I don't know all of the reasoning behind statute of limitations
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 11:18 PM
Jun 2013

but two years sounds too short to me, for this kind of thing. If kids are involved, it's not unusual for it to be years for it to be reported.

pokerfan

(27,677 posts)
15. according to the executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 11:34 PM
Jun 2013
The church’s arguments were forcefully made by Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, in testimony before the State Legislature in January opposing a proposal to abolish the limits in civil cases.

“How can an institution conceivably defend itself against a claim that is 40, 50 or 60 years old?” Mr. Brannigan said. “Statutes of limitation exist because witnesses die and memories fade.”

“This bill would not protect a single child,” he said, while “it would generate an enormous transfer of money in lawsuits to lawyers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/us/sex-abuse-statutes-of-limitation-stir-battle.html

goldent

(1,582 posts)
16. Yeah the faded memories and unavailable witnesses is a good point
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 11:48 PM
Jun 2013

It seems it would be hard to decide how many years is appropriate. To me it would seem we pick some number of years (say 10) and then have some kind of appeal process to convince a judge that there is sufficiently complete and reliable evidence to hold a trial after those 10 years.

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