BLOG

The legal landscape has become a lot more favourable to those that do disclose abuse - even abuse that happened decades ago. It's not forgotten. It's actually being recognized now that the nature of abuse is such that it gets hidden. It's a fantastic day for the survivors of child abuse. The Church is liable for the wrongdoing of their priests, just like any employer can be liable for the wrongdoing of their employees.

In what may well prove a watershed moment for civil cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, a ruling yesterday in the High Court of England and Wales found that Catholic bishops can be held liable for abuse committed by priests working in their dioceses.

Ireland has been abuzz with news in the last few weeks. First, after sharply denouncing the Vatican’s response to clergy sexual abuse in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny is now calling on the Vatican for money. In support of a compensation bill that would create a fund to compensate victims of child sexual abuse, many of whom were abused in Catholic schools or homes, Kenny is asking the Vatican to contribute close to $2 billion.

The UK’s High Court heard the case of a woman this month, “JGE,” who was six years old when she alleges to have been sexually abused by a priest at a children’s home in Portsmouth, England. “JGE” claims that Father Wilfred Baldwin, a priest in the Diocese of Portsmouth, abused her when visiting Firs children’s home. In addition to her negligence claim against the nuns who ran Firs, “JGE” and her lawyers say that Fr. Baldwin was working as a priest in the Diocese, so the Diocese is also responsible.

With every new revelation of Catholic Bishops conspiring with the Vatican to cover-up the sexual abuse of children by priests, our hearts get more and more heavy. Today, it is a report of an Irish government investigation that revealed Catholic Church officials in Ireland (including a Bishop who had previously served as personal secretary to three Popes) covered up the sexual abuse of children over many years—and as recently as 2009 blatantly disregarded the Irish Bishops’ policies that required reporting to law enforcement. Similarly, in January ...