By Alex Dibranco
Women's Rights
April 13, 2010
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/women_settles_lawsuit_after_sexual_assault_by_catholic_priest
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I'm sure you haven't missed the scandal surrounding the Catholic Church, with the recent revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children and ensuing cover-up. It's so bad, even the Church's own priests are calling for the Pope's resignation. And while most of the attention has focused on the abuse of young boys, with some confused souls even trying to allege that the problem is homosexuality, not pedophilia, little boys aren't the only ones falling prey to disturbed Catholic priests and Church cover-ups.
Last week, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Orlando settled a lawsuit by a woman who was sexually assaulted in her home by a priest in 2004. Complaints had been filed against Rev. Wladyslaw Gorak previously for "dangerous sexual improprieties with women" when he served in Newark. Instead of doing anything about it, the Church transferred him to Florida, which he requested as better for his health. There, he broke into a woman's home and literally began ripping her clothes off.
Gorak plead guilty in 2007 to assault and aggravated stalking; he's still technically a priest, though he hasn't been working. A Church spokesman says that the process for removing him from the priesthood has finally been started. Of course, it should have been started before he was transferred to Florida and assaulted a woman there — which is exactly why she sued for their putting her at risk when the Church knew it had a dangerous priest on its hands.
Mark Crawford of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priest, points out, "The interest is in covering up the truth when allegations of sexual misconduct come up." But while the Church make think saving face is a good idea, don't they have some kind of, I don't know, moral requirement to act otherwise?
Speaking of morals, Katha Pollitt asks in The Nation just why we allow Catholic bishops to make decisions about women's bodies in health care, when the Church currently seems sadly lacking in moral authority.
In the latest audacity, the Catholic Church is actually fighting a Connecticut law that would repeal the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases. Apparently, the "legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities." In light of this, somehow, the fact that the Vatican has finally released guidelines that yeah, church officials should let law enforcement know if priests are molesting children — if it's required by law and everything — doesn't seem like enough of a step forward against the abuse perpetrated by priests.
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