CALIFORNIA
U.S. Catholic
By Scott Alessi
The Catholic Church in California breathed a sigh of relief last weekend when Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have extended the statute of limitations on lawsuits in sexual abuse cases and opened up a one-year window for any and all past abuse victims to file suit against private institutions. The bill, SB 131, was strongly opposed by church officials, who of course realized it could have meant big financial losses for the church. But their jubilation over its demise seems rather unnecessary–if not downright offensive to the many past victims of sexual abuse on the church’s watch.
On the surface, Gov. Brown has sound reasons for his veto: The bill applied only to private entities and exempted public institutions from facing lawsuits. Brown argued, as did Catholic leaders, that this was unfair discrimination of victims in that it gave preference to those who suffered abuse from private institutions like the Catholic Church and left no recourse for victims who were abused in institutions like public schools. That makes sense–all victims should have been given an equal opportunity for justice, regardless of where their abuse took place.
Where Brown loses me is his comment that, “There comes a time when an individual or organization should be secure in the reasonable expectation that past acts are indeed in the past and not subject to further lawsuits.” Though I can’t personally speak of the horrors of enduring sexual abuse as a child, I can only imagine that for many victims, those “past acts” still have a profound influence on the present, no matter how long ago they may have happened.
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