They can sue the priest. But he may be dead, in prison, or already poor due to paying legal fees. At best they would get a few thousand dollars. But the diocese…that’s a different story. If they knew you can sue. If they didn’t know you can sue saying they should have. Some demand huge settlements. They don’t realize, or care, that this doesn’t hurt the priest. It hurts the average Catholic who did nothing wrong. Some attorneys really want to totally bankrupt the Church. Some victims do too out of a sense of vengence (I can halfway understand them). Others encourage it because they hate the Church and want it silenced. Frankly I think they are going to keep up huge demands until the Church is broke completely. They did it in Canada and a poor Anglican diocese actually dissolved. They closed the Churches. But hey the lawyers got that new beach house. Even the victims lose a lot to their attorneys. And it doesn’t bring the healing promised. The hurt is still there. I am all for just compensation. They deserve it. But the fact is the Church does not have billions and billions of dollars for this. Our pockets are not endlessly deep. Yet as I said. The suits will continue now for most of the rest of this century.
