Catholic Church Spends $10M to Fight Statute of Limitations Reforms
Posted on: April 14, 2021 Catholic Church Sexual Abuse
According to a recently released report, nationwide the Catholic Church has spent more than $10 million on lobbyists over the last seven years, fighting to keep state statute of limitations reforms from going into effect. The report was commissioned by law firms who represent survivors of clergy sex abuse. Attorney Stephen Weiss, who works for one of the law firms told NBC News:
“This report lays out what we have known all along — that the Catholic Church refuses to take responsibility for the decades of abuse that took place knowingly under its watch.”
Between 2011 and 2018 it was reported that lobbyists were hired in states where reform bills were either considered or passed, and included Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island. Pennsylvania is still trying to get a revival window passed. The report indicates that the church spent over $5 million in Pennsylvania alone in an effort to keep existing statute of limitations laws in place. Attorney Gerald Williams explained:
“Statute of limitations reforms give survivors more time to obtain some measure of closure on the atrocities committed against them. The church has yet to implement meaningful reforms, and by working to prevent these laws from passing, the church is clearly demonstrating that it does not stand with survivors.”
In some states, the Catholic Church has been much less successful. In New York, it is reported that nearly $3 million was spent in an effort to keep the Child Victims Act from becoming a reality. Sen. Brad Hoylman from New York responded by saying:
“I think it’s incredibly troubling that parishioners who on Sundays contributed to the church collections may have been inadvertently funding lobbying efforts against victims of sex abuse seeking legal redress. Three million dollars that went for lobbying could have done a lot of good elsewhere, including soup kitchens, after-school programs for children, support for seniors. In my district, a Catholic school that is closing might perhaps have stayed open if that money had been used for better causes.”
In 2019, New Jersey passed reform laws which opened a 2-year revival window for child sex abuse survivors. The report estimates over $600,000 was spent by the Catholic Church in efforts to prevent this revival window from passing in New Jersey as well. In Rhode Island, a revival window was eventually passed, even after it was reported that the Catholic Church spent about $60,000 fighting this proposed legislation. However, some argue they were mildly successful since the revival window included an age cap of 53, meaning those over that age at the time the revival window was passed would likely still have time-barred claims.
A complete breakdown of the money spent by the Catholic Church by state is below:
- $5,332,979 – Pennsylvania
- ~$3,000,000 – New York
- $875,261 – Connecticut
- $633,458 – New Jersey
- $537,551 – Massachusetts
- $134,345 – New Hampshire
- $124,260 – Maine
- $61,961 – Rhode Island
Sen. Brad Hoylman from New York responded by saying:
“I think it’s incredibly troubling that parishioners who on Sundays contributed to the church collections may have been inadvertently funding lobbying efforts against victims of sex abuse seeking legal redress.”
Three million dollars that went for lobbying could have done a lot of good elsewhere, including soup kitchens, after-school programs for children, support for seniors. In my district, a Catholic school that is closing might perhaps have stayed open if that money had been used for better causes.”
These figures were denied by officials representing the Catholic Church.
The entire article can be viewed here.
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