UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture
In separate decisions, a federal district judge and a Connecticut court have rejected dioceses’ arguments that the First Amendment bars lawsuits against clerical sexual abuse, according to the Religion Clause blog.
Rejecting a motion by the Diocese of Yakima, the federal judge ruled that “the Free Exercise Clause does not bar a negligence claim against Defendants for hiring [Deacon Aaron] Ramirez and placing him in a position of trust and authority from which he was able to sexually abuse Plaintiff.”
According to the BishopAccountability.org database, the deacon fled to Mexico after being accused of raping a teenage male parishioner in 1999. Blessed John Paul II subsequently laicized him, and he became an Episcopal priest.
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