Editorial: Sorrow? Regret? Not good enough

Burlington County Times
February 17, 2019

https://bit.ly/2V1x2kf

Sometimes sorrow and regret aren’t enough.

Those were the words that Cardinal Joseph Tobin, of the Archdiocese of Newark, used in trying to lessen the pain and anguish of all those victimized children “who put their trust in a member of the church, only to have that trust so profoundly betrayed.”

Tobin added, “We must protect our children, first, foremost, and always.” One would think that came with the job descriptions of priest, clergyman and deacon. But these sad excuses for role models give not only religion a bad name, but also humanity.

Apologies don’t count for much anymore, and they sure don’t mean a lot in this scandal, but what does count is the continuing exposure of the lies and immoral cover-up of the Catholic Church, and of the names of the nearly 200 men in New Jersey who disgraced themselves and their faith with such repugnant behavior.

Newspapers and other media published stories on Thursday after various archdioceses in the state revealed the names of Roman Catholic clergy members — a few served at Burlington County churches — who they say have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors, as long ago as 1940.

That’s nearly 80 years — as a point of context, a year before we entered World War II. We have to ask: Just how far back does this worldwide systemic problem go, and how long did the church hierarchy know it and look the other way? We shudder to think.

Dioceses in more than two dozen states have released the names of abusive clergy members. In August, a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified over 300 predator priests, some of them now dead. The overall number in our country alone very likely is in the thousands.

It’s equally unsettling to think that some of the victims are now parents and grandparents. They have had to live their adulthoods with this undeserved black mark.

The stain of the abuse can never be cleansed, but we can applaud any and all attempts to take corrective action. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force last fall to conduct a criminal investigation into the clergy abuse. And this past week, Democratic Sen. Joseph Vitale and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano announced that a bill extending the statute of limitations on civil claims will be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee next month.

With that legislation, child victims would be able to sue up until they turn age 55 or within seven years of realizing the abuse caused them harm (the current limit is two years). Adult victims also would have seven years from the discovery of the abuse. In addition, the bill would provide a two-year window to victims previously barred by the statute of limitations.

About three-quarters of our states have now amended their statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases as a way to deal with this reprehensible scandal. The Catholic Church was too quiet for far too long, so we endorse any noise that can be mustered in bringing genuine righteousness to bear.

Even though it’s not nearly enough.