Dear Parishioners and Friends:
As the Bishops of the Catholic family of the State of Connecticut, we are requesting your immediate attention to House Bill 5473, which may be voted on in the General Assembly during the next week or two.
This bill would retroactively eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to allegations of child sexual abuse. Connecticut already has the longest retroactive statute in the United States – 30 years past the age of 18. Over the past several years in states that have even temporarily eliminated the statutes, it has caused the bankruptcy of at least seven dioceses. House Bill 5473 would make Connecticut the only State without a statute of limitations. This bill would put all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk.
The nature of bankruptcy litigation puts all assets at risk, even if your parish has had no past incidents, reports or allegations of child abuse. That is why it is important for you to join other Catholics across Connecticut in opposing this legislation.
If you think I'm persecuting the Roman Catholic Church, you should read Andrew Sullivan.
Are you suggesting that we read all of his articles about the current crisis(I am being slightly snarky because it's been going on for years) or just the latest one in answer to the commenter ?
ReplyDeleteSusan, of course not all of them. Just enough for you to know that Sullivan is a worse persecutor than I am. The links pour into my email, and I thought I'd post a few, mostly without commentary, because I don't have time.
ReplyDeleteScumbags, pardon my Latin.
ReplyDeleteWow, Lapin! And here I thought Latin was a dead language! At least that was what was written on the inside of my book in high school in 1959.
ReplyDeleteMimi
ReplyDeleteneither you nor Andrew are persecutors as you well know.
you're just bearing witness, and for Andrew in particular this has got to have been a long and painful path.
i've read Andrew's writing in the gay press over the years in defense of his Church, he can't be feeling any pleasure in what he is forced to tackle now,
and we all owe a debt of gratitude to both of you
thanks Mimi
David, I know. Irony gets me through the tough spots. I don't rejoice in the present mess that the RCC has got itself into, not at all. I'm sad mostly for the children, but I'm sad for all the good priests and members of the church who feel the shame that the powers should feel, but seem not to.
ReplyDeleteLike you, Dear Grandmère, Sullivan is guilty of intellectual honesty. Just as it forced him from the "modern" Republican Party it will force him from the Church of Rome. I hope we're able to welcome him home when it does.
ReplyDeleteThe news from the other side of the Tiber continues to be depressing and appalling.
ReplyDelete