POLAND
U.S. Catholic
By Catholic News Service
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — Polish victims of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests have formed a foundation to seek damages from the church.
“This is to be our forum for cooperating with the church — we want the people who harmed us to be penalized, barred from working with children and even dismissed from pastoral service,” the foundation founder, identified only as Marek, told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily May 12.
“Most importantly, our aim is to convince society we aren’t the guilty ones, but the ones who were harmed. In our small communities, we are often treated as black sheep, and many of us have had to move,” he said.
Organizers of the Poznan-based foundation, “Be Not Afraid,” said they hoped to obtain compensation and psychological help for victims and persuade Polish legislators to change a law establishing a 15-year limit for abuse prosecutions.
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