Church in
Crisis
Statute of limitations to be lifted Jan. 1
As a harbinger of woe for bishops in other states, California
bishops Dec. 8 advised Catholic Mass-goers their church will face the New Year
coping with a fresh raft of sex scandal lawsuits -- estimates are 200-plus
cases statewide.
The suits, many dating back decades, are possible because the
California state legislature in June passed a bill, known as SB 1779, that
lifts for 12 months the statute of limitations on suits against the employers
of known sexual molesters. The bill takes effect Jan. 1.
There are reports that the Texas legislature may consider similar
legislation. New Jersey has lifted its statute of limitations on sexual
molestation cases.
In a preemptive strike on the publicity front, the California
bishops from the state’s 12 dioceses wrote a collective letter to be read
in Catholic parishes the second Sunday of Advent stating, “The Catholic
church has been falsely portrayed as a large corporation with ‘deep
pockets.’ In reality, the vast majority of our assets -- parishes,
schools, charities -- are not devoted to the accumulation of wealth but to
education, worship and sacraments: to the poor and other works of
charity.”
A letter circulating in Los Angeles Catholic circles that says
Cardinal Roger Mahony told a recent meeting of deanery priests the archdiocese
might have to file for bankruptcy next year is wrong, stated the Los Angeles
archdiocese media relations office. The spokesperson said the archdiocese
“is not contemplating bankruptcy. The archdiocese of Los Angeles believes
it is adequately insured against lawsuits filed as a result of SB 1779.”
In a further Los Angeles development, Mahony was at St.
John’s Seminary in Camarillo Dec. 1 discussing with faculty the pending
closure of the seminary’s undergraduate college and the possible shifting
of the graduate level seminary program closer to Loyola Marymount University in
Los Angeles.
-- Arthur Jones
National Catholic Reporter, December 13,
2002
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