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Richard Serbin: Church Payoff Plans Don’t Pass the Smell Test

By Richard Serbin
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 21, 2018

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/12/21/Richard-Serbin-Church-payoff-plans-do-not-pass-smell-test-clergy-abuse/stories/201812210020

How does more secrecy protect children, heal victims or reveal the truth?

A few weeks ago, without a very convincing explanation, eight elderly, risk-averse Pennsylvania men made a 180-degree turn. Let’s look deeper at what they did and why they may have done it.

For decades, our state’s Catholic bishops offered abuse victims crumbs. When scores of victims took to the courts, expensive and brutal church defense lawyers almost always helped their bosses keep the crimes hidden by exploiting the statute of limitations, which is based on archaic understandings of child abuse and the difficulties that victims (especially children) face in coming forward. Because of this, Pennsylvania has long been one of the most hostile states toward these deeply betrayed and tormented victims.

But last week, these bishops announced that they would start offering allegedly “substantial” sums of money to victims who come forward. And on Tuesday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that it would set aside $25 million for compensating victims, as long as they registered within a brief window of time: before July. Apparently, the Philadelphia Archdiocese has already sent out informational packets to victims whose claims they deemed credible, in an effort to sweep these potential lawsuits under the rug as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

 

 




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