Mark Fuller of New Canaan says it took him 25 years to seek help for the lingering trauma of clergy sex abuse.

He is still waiting for a legal reckoning.

"I should be able to sue for the usual things, like any other citizen who has been wronged: pain and suffering. Lost wages. Medical expenses. Reimbursement for counseling services,'' Fuller told members of the Connecticut legislature earlier this year. “But the statutes prevent justice in this area.”

Connecticut law currently allows child victims to file suit but they must do so before their 51st birthday. Experts say some victims don’t come to terms with the anguish of sexual abuse until later in life, sometimes until after the deadline for legal claims has passed.

Lawmakers had considered opening a legal window to enable Fuller and others who were sexually abused as children to file lawsuits against predators and the institutions that hid the abuse. But in recent years, such efforts have fallen short in Connecticut.

Victims and their advocates aren’t giving up and they hope a scathing report released Tuesday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport on the alleged sexual abuse of hundreds of victims by clergy since the early 1950s will provide their drive with fresh momentum.

Victims "deserve a chance to get some kind of settlement and get their lives back,” Gail Howard, a leader of the Connecticut chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said last week. “Connecticut is out front on gun control and a lot of other moral civic issues yet [it’s] doing nothing on this issue.”

But, Howard added, “I am hopeful ... we’re playing the long game.”

Advocates are pressing for a law that would extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Earlier this year, the legislature’s judiciary committee drafted a measure that would have given those molested as children a 27-month window to file a claim, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

New York passed such a law, and it resulted in a spike in child sexual abuse claims against priests, camp counselors, scout leaders and teachers when it took effect in August. Ten other states have approved similar legislation

But in Connecticut, the bill was amended to remove the window, though it did extend the timeframe to file lawsuits for those who were victimized before they turned 21. (Previously, child victims had to sue before they turned 48; they now have until their 51st birthday.)

State Sen. Mae Flexer, a chief proponent of the measure, said it was thwarted by the Catholic Church’s lobbying effort.

“The reason that bill didn’t pass this year ... is because of the exemplary lobbying effort of the Catholic Church,” said Flexer, a Democrat from Killingly. “As an actively practicing Catholic, I would suggest [the church] consider the long-term ramifications of this [Bridgeport diocese] report, not only in terms of whether they do the right thing by their survivors but also about how many people will continue fill the seats in their pews"

The Bridgeport Diocese report, compiled by former state Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg at the request of church officials, provides a window into “the pervasiveness of the perpetuation of the abuse within the institution,” Flexer said. “It adds more emphasis as to why we need to change the law.”

But Christopher C. Healy, the chief lobbyist for the Catholic Church in Connecticut, said the current statute of limitations for civil claims is equitable.

“We feel ... those parameters are fair,” Healy said. “Certainly there are always issues where people do not come forward.”

Healy said the three Catholic dioceses in Connecticut have taken significant steps to address sexual abuse by the clergy. “We are doing everything we have to — and should do — to win back the trust of the faithful,” he said. “The dioceses have since 2003 implemented an incredibly strenuous safe environment policy, which is a model to other institutions, including public institutions, where sadly people get no justice. We continue to seek out people who have been wronged and we have offered counseling and other assistance.”

The Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference — the church’s lobbying arm — has spent $875,261 to influence legislation at the state Capitol since 2011, according to a report by a group of law firms that represents clergy sex abuse victims.

The accounts of priest sexual abuse contained in the Bridgeport diocese report are “the latest chapter in an old and tired book," said Stephen A. Weiss, an attorney with Seeger Weiss, one of the firms that produced the report.

“The lobbying efforts demonstrate time and time again that the Catholic Church does not stand by survivors but rather revictimizes them,” he said.

Rep. Steven Stafstrom, the co-chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee, said it’s simplistic to say the Catholic Church quashed efforts to extend the statute of limitations.

“I don’t think its fair to blame lobbying by the Catholic Church for killing that proposal,” said Stafstrom, a Democrat from Bridgeport.

He noted that opening a window for more people to sue would impact institutions beyond the Catholic Church.

“The concept would apply to any nonprofit and any business in the state, where anyone who interacted with that organization or was employed by that employer would all of a sudden have an opportunity to bring suit later," Stafstrom said. “There are huge insurance ramifications to that.”

Opening a window to lawsuits is “a concept that has a number of different angles to it and it needs to be studied and considered more deliberately,” he added.

Howard, of SNAP, the survivors network, said victims older than 51 deserve a chance to seek justice for the abuse they endured as children.

“If people who were left behind could come forward we’re going to learn a lot more about their abusers,” she said. “And some of them could be alive and abusing right now ... pedophilia is a compulsion, it’s not something you just stop doing. You only stop doing it when somebody stops you.”

As part of an omnibus bill that dealt with sexual abuse and harassment, lawmakers created a task force to study the civil statute of limitations. The panel, led by Flexer, held its first meeting this week; it is required to issue recommendations to the legislature before lawmakers reconvene in early February.

“I’m very hopeful we will make changes in the law next year,” Flexer said. She said many of her colleagues in the legislature were frustrated by the failure to take action last session.

“The Catholic Church can spend all the money it wants but I think in the end what is right is going to win the day,” she said.