Catholic Leaders Fight Legislation on Suits

States Consider Easing Statutes of Limitations

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is among those pointing to the sexual abuse of children in public schools and calling the measures anti-Catholic. (Ed Andrieski - AP)

DENVER -- When Colorado lawmakers proposed making it easier for victims of sexual abuse by priests to sue the Roman Catholic Church here, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput fought back hard.

He charged that the effort to relax statutes of limitations reflected "a peculiar kind of anti-Catholicism" and said the goal of some lawmakers is the "dismantling and pillaging of the Catholic community."

Church representatives have testified to legislative panels here that children in public schools are just as open to sexual abuse as in a church setting and have even given state lawmakers the names of public school teachers who allegedly abused children. Chaput said in an interview with a church newspaper that diocesan officials went to a Denver newspaper with concerns about abuse by public school teachers and others in an effort to get a story published.

Chaput's aggressive push against the proposed legislation here comes at a time when a number of states, including Maryland, are considering easing statutes of limitations for lawsuits by alleged victims of abuse. Four years after clerical sexual abuse first publicized in Boston turned into a nationwide scandal for the church, some bishops are concerned that the proposals could cost dioceses around the country millions of dollars. Three dioceses -- Tucson; Spokane, Wash.; and Portland, Ore. -- have declared bankruptcy, and others have had to sell church property to pay claims.

Proposals to ease the statutes of limitations in Maryland have been vigorously opposed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore. The church hired one of Annapolis's most prominent lobbyists to defeat the legislation, and the cardinals made personal calls to some state political leaders. Last week, the House of Delegates voted to approve a watered-down version, which would allow victims 25 and younger when the law takes effect to file lawsuits until they reach age 42.

The degrees of opposition have varied throughout the nation. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit broke with many of his fellow church leaders in January and said statutes of limitations should be eased to allow victims time to come forward. Acknowledging that he had been abused by a priest as a teenager, Gumbleton said victims are often embarrassed and intimidated about coming forward.

Church leaders have also been more acquiescent in Massachusetts and in California, where lawmakers enacted a one-year window in 2003 in which suits could be filed without worries about statutes of limitations.

"You see varying positions on this because each archbishop sets his own policy," said R. Scott Appleby, a church historian at the University of Notre Dame. "Some bishops have decided that the most responsible role is to act as CEO, to protect the church's assets against another round of lawsuits. So you do what a CEO would do: hire lawyers and political experts and go all out to defeat the legislation.

"But there are also bishops who say their proper role is to act as a pastor. They worry primarily about helping the victims, even if the cost in lawsuits and settlements turns out to be huge."

Statutes of limitations generally prohibit civil or criminal trials for acts that happened so long ago that evidence and witnesses' memories cannot be considered reliable.

Beyond Colorado and Maryland, legislation to extend the time limits for sex abuse cases is pending in New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Hawaii, according to the Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse in the church.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not taken a uniform national position on statutes of limitations. But it warns that a spate of new civil suits could undermine church finances and crimp Catholic charitable work. The church says more than 800 new cases were filed after California lifted its statute of limitations for civil suits.