Before you dismiss this as dubious because it came from the New York Daily News, remember that unsubstantiated accusations against the Catholic Church are dangerous, as they have fancy lawyers, and the story has also been reported by other sources (e.g., Gawker). And this time the Church’s naked venality exposes it for the horrid and insensitive institution it is.

According to both articles, the Church has spent over $2 million dollars hiring lobbyists to fight the passage of the Child Victims Act, which would make it easier for victims of sexual child abuse to get justice from their predators. Among other things, that Act would open a one-year window for people older than 23 to file charges against sexual abusers—something that they can’t do now.

Why on Earth would the Church lobby against an act that protects the victims for which it now shows contrition? Yep, you guessed it:

Gawker:

State records show that the [New York Catholic conference], a group representing the bishops of the state’s eight dioceses, retained lobbyists to work on a number of issues associated with “statute of limitations” and “timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses.” “We believe this bill is designed to bankrupt the Catholic Church,” Catholic Conference spokesman Dennis Poust told the New York Times in 2009

That conference is led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, who himself has been accused of delaying discussion of on Church reform. I really don’t know why anyone still belongs to the Church. Were I part of an institution that had an organized coverup of endemic child rape, and also fought against birth control on scriptural grounds, I’d be deeply ashamed of myself, and get the hell out as soon as possible. This latest act shows that it cares far more about its coffers, which are well full, than about the rape of children.



h/t: Barry