Very Upset about the the Law or Change in New York regarding the Statute of Limitations

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mjm076

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I am very upset about the law or bill that was signed by Andrew Cuomo on this past Wednesday allowing a year-long window for anyone with a sex-abuse complaint against Church, Boy Scouts etc. regardless of how long ago it happened. Even though this bill includes all organizations I think we all know that this bill is mainly aimed at attacking the Catholic Church. All ready many lawsuits have been filed and much money will be handed out to victims either real or alleged! As well most of the abusers are probably dead so most won’t even be brought to trial! And many accusations will not be able to be proven. To me this bill will cause many lawsuits that will destroy the Catholic Church in New York and eventually all of America!

It also angers me that Catholics rejoice about this law, forgetting that Andrew Cuomo is not a friend of the Catholic Church! Do Catholics really want to see our Church go bankrupt and then be persecuted because the media will create a feeding frenzy?!

It doesn’t help that Church Militant, who I will no longer support, in spite of having some concerns, seem to be happy or relieved about this law or see this as justice!

It just makes me angry all around! 😡 😡
 
Can you give us some links to read what Church Militant has said regarding this new law NY?
There are lawyers who try to live lives of virtue, who see St. Thomas More as their model to guide them and then there are lawyers who are vipers. And one day their justice will be a day that will last forever. The evil they encourage will be their quick sand of eternal death.
 
The justice department could always open a RICO investigation, as the abuse and coverup has been carried out across state lines. In other words, the federal government could always claim jurisdiction over such matters.
 
The Church is not going to go bankrupt.

Andrew Cuomo did not invent this law all by himself.

Can you please post a link to whatever you’re talking about?
 
Good grief, calm down. It’s for one year, and New York’s statute of limitations for these claims was ridiculously short. This filth needs to be dragged out of the shadows and dealt with.
 
I think truth and justice need to be our standards, regardless of the source. And I think this particular bill helps to further that cause.
 
I’m involved in Cub Scouts as a leader and as best I can tell they are taking these allegations very seriously and have been for a while. The institutional change has been marked. Basically, no kids can go places like the bathroom without a buddy of the same age range (older kids can and do abuse younger kids, physically, mentally, and, sexually) and sex. Adults are not allowed to do so unless that child is going with someone like a parent. Sexual abuse and child psychology training is mandatory and you aren’t allowed to wear the uniform until you do. No adult is allowed to be with a child without another adult being present. All communication must be heard by an additional adult and things like text messages must be copied to another adult. All kids are required to take training with regards to bullying and when things adults are doing is out of bounds as a rank advancement requirement. I have some issues though as the training is mostly “stranger danger” where as most abuse happens via family memebers and people well known to the victim. Unfortunately I didn’t see such a repoonse by the Church.
 
Anyone who volunteers i our diocese has to have Safe Environment training. There is no one on one with kids. There are monthly bulletins to read.
 
PJH_74 said:
Unfortunately I didn’t see such a repoonse by the Church.
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There’s a huge amount of Safe Environment training and similar rules already in place by dioceses for quite a while. I’ve heard priests and others talk about it, and it’s stated as a requirement on parish websites that you need to have the training for positions working with minors. For example, if a minor needs a ride home, two adults must go in the car with the child, there’s no one-on-one. There is an adult monitoring the vestibules and bathroom areas of the church when school Masses are going on. And so on.
 
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I don’t really see how large financial payouts in the form of court settlements will help. It might be money for victims to get therapy but unless the abusers are put in prison what difference will it make. Plus most of these abusers are more than likely dead.

Money is not the end all solution here but the media seems to think it is including some Catholic media.

What needs to happens is the names of abusers need to be taken down and tracked down and court trials need to happen. There should be a spiritual support group for victims. Men experiencing same-sex attraction should no longer be ordained regardless of how deep-seated it is and Priests who are experience SSA should get psychological and spiritual help as well Priests who don’t teach the Church’s teaching on homosexuality should be laicized.
 
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PJH_74 said:
Unfortunately I didn’t see such a repoonse by the Church.
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The Church has implemented very similar strategies. The Dallas Charter, Diocesan Child Protection Decrees, training, etc. There are very strict policies for how adult agents of the Church (both priests and lay staff/volunteers) conduct themselves around children. A priest or volunteer, for example, is not allowed to be alone at any one time with a child, similar to the BSA policy.

The Church has has absolutely responded.
 
mjm076 said:
What needs to happens is the names of abusers need to be taken down and tracked down and court trials need to happen.
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While I understand opening civil suits on the statute of limitations, criminal suits are a different matter. Alleged abuses that occurred 30, 40, or more years ago are very difficult to prove in court. That’s why we have a statute of limitations to begin with.
mjm076 said:
Men experiencing same-sex attraction should no longer be ordained regardless of how deep-seated it is
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Unreasonable. How do you suppose we do that? Should we require all priests to prove their heterosexuality in some way? Homosexuality in the clergy is very much don’t ask, don’t tell.
mjm076 said:
Priests who don’t teach the Church’s teaching on homosexuality should be laicized.
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Seriously? Should a quota be set for how often priests have to give homilies against homosexuality? If Father doesn’t meet his monthly quota, he’s fired? And what does this have to do with the sex abuse crisis anyway?
 
vz71 said:
Are you just as involved in church activities so as to be in the know of the training involved there?
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The local diocese requires a 60 minute online training and a certificate of the completion to be printed out and handed in (to the local church it appears). This is required of all employees and child related volunteers. It appears that volunteers are only required to do this once whereas the employees must do it every 5 years. There appears to be no child training and the program relies on a generic DCFS training site.

The Scouts BSA requires every Cub Scout to do this every year and with the direct involvement of their parent or guardian. Registered volunteers (e.g. Cub/Scout Masters, Den leaders, basically anyone who wears a uniform.) need to do this every 3 years and completion is recorded online using the official Scouting web system. The training is around 3 hours and specifically developed for Scouting. Abuse trained people must be present at any function involving the kids, especially extended camping activities. Reporting incidents of abuse, even if the child interprets the action as abuse, must be reported in writing. Additionally, people who volunteer for child interactive positions are generally turned down unless they have a direct connection with a Scout or possibly highly active leaders that have had one in the past and the child has since moved on. Such people are usually pointed toward more centrally related positions. Finally, at least in my area, any person found to have anything related to sexual abuse will have their names broadcast widely and will be barred. This just happened recently with a man arrested for child pornography.

There is also a substantial amount of additional training, some of it required. While this isn’t specifically abuse oriented, it does involve a bit of child psychology training which is helpful when recognizing when things aren’t right.

I’m certainly not saying the Church isn’t doing anything, but the programs appear to vary from Diocese to Diocese. More importantly, to what I’ve observed, there seems to be some substantial outsourcing to things like government agencies and the goodwill of the local Parish to comply. I’d rather see the USCoB take control more akin to the Scouts. E.g. the program is uniform, the training process is owned by the Church, and the recording of completion is centrally certifiable without relying on the Parishes.
 
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