A bitch caught this news bit while cruising through the internets this morning.
Apparently, legislators in Connecticut have a bill that would extend the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. The current statute gives victims up to the age of 48 to sue. The proposed legislation would lift that limit and allow people over 48 years old to join lawsuits filed by younger people. My understanding is that the legislation has no impact on the statue of limitation in a criminal investigation, so we’re talking about civil suits.
Pause…sip coffee…continue.
The headline of the story caught my attention – “Conn. bishops urge parishes to fight new sex abuse law” – hell, that shit made my Afro hurt.
A bitch’s first reaction after reading the headline followed by the article…
Lawd, have mercy. Somebody ought to be ‘shamed, but that’d be too much like right.
Now I know that you know that I know that you know that Catholic Bishops love politicking and I know that you know that I know that most people know that this latest public display of political organizing by Bishops is about covering ass. A bitch suspects that a lawyer suggested this shit because of pre-existing lawsuits and so forth.
But daaaaaaaaamn.
Religious leaders in Connecticut are urging the faithful to get their activism on against a bill that would allow victims of abuse…not just victims of child sex abuse by priests or Catholics…to seek the only justice still on the table.
Daaaaaaaamn.
A bitch’s second reaction after reading the headline followed by the article…
I mean daaaaaaaamn!
Confessional – a bitch is beyond confused about the laws that govern churches involvement in politics. I used to think that churches risked losing their non-profit status and tax exemptions if they organized politically, lobbied legislators, drafted legislation or openly urged their flock to oppose or support candidates or legislation. But after watching Bishops draft amendments to federal health care reform legislation and then get their lobby on with an expertise one usually only sees from pharmaceutical or oil company lobbyists…and noting that they didn’t seem to fear any ramifications from having publicly done that shit…well, a bitch is confused.
Mayhap the notion that there are laws that prevent churches from getting knee deep in politics up in their congregations is a myth? Could that notion be like chupacabra...more myth than reality but hard to completly discount 'cause so many people talk about it that you have to believe at least part of myth must be real?
Mercy.
A bitch’s final reaction after reading the headline followed by the article and prior to logging on to write this post…
I’ve gotta be honest…this bitch is having the same reaction to news that Connecticut Bishops are asking parishioners to oppose legislation that would allow child sex abuse victims over 48 years old to seek justice in the civil courts against the individuals and/or organization that perpetrated and/or facilitated that abuse that I had while reading articles denouncing investigations of allegations of widespread sex abuse by priests and cover-ups of that shit in multiple countries...
If the church put half as much energy and passion into protecting children and removing predator priests from power as they put into defending the church after children have been abused and avoiding responsibility, odds are Bishops in Connecticut wouldn’t be in a position to fear legislation that would allow victims of child sex abuse over 48 years old to seek the only justice still on the table.
Blink.
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12 comments:
What killed me about this story was how they have NO shame in being against the bill. Tryna say this would, essentially, create a windfall for trial lawyers. Mannnnn get out of here.
If ya'lls bishops and other clergy weren't child molestors, this sh*t wouldn't matter. GTFOHWTBS...
Wow. Every time you think they couldn't do anything more egregiously oblivious to the pain and suffering of abuse victims, boom, they lower the bar again and do something even more asinine. Sheesh.
Well said, ABD.
What happened to the separation of church and state that we were taught in school?
Frankly, every time I hear of something like this going on, not only am I disgusted by it, I think of George Carlin talking about it on stage.
Tax them. Make them pay their way in, like everybody else. If they want to have their say...tax them.
Taxing their real estate holdings alone would wipe out the national budget deficit.
Just sayin'.... :)
This entire thing is so off putting. They need to admit the wrongs that have been done, repent, and make amends in any way they can. This constant battle to save themselves is embarrassing and hurts the church and those who believe in it. How can anyone in good conscious go along with this insanity?
They are missing a perfect opportunity to finally do what is right!
I can not believe that yet another group of people can be so delusional.
Heinous in the extreme. Unbelievable why anyone would continue to follow these *sshats.
I think the ruling on politics and the church is mostly that they're not allowed to endorse or condemn individuals. They're allowed to say almost anything they want about ISSUES, such as against abortion, and against laws protecting children from sexual assault.
Thanks for the clarification, catnmus. That explains most of the church-based political activity we see in St. Louis...except we do tend to have election year threats to deny Catholic politicians communion.
So confusing.
As an ex-Catholic who grew up in CT and received most of my sacraments there, I feel totally ashamed to be in any way associated with these people. Up until now, I have been content to defect quietly - stop going to mass, stop identifying as Catholic, stop giving any money to this institution — but today, I will be writing to the Bishop of Norwich and asking that my name be permanently removed from any records of church membership. It makes me sick to think that I am numbered among the "flock" of church officials who care more about covering their crimes than about protecting children from rapists.
As I do not see much hope of them admitting their own biology any time soon (mammals don't do celibacy: if they did there wouldn't be any) I hope instead that the Catholic church at least adopts the other strategy that would begin to do away with the abuse we're hearing so much about these days and brings women into the structure of the organization. That's the way I see it, anyway.
-Doug in Oakland
Shark-fu, the churches are de facto 501-c3 non-profit organizations by IRS rules. They may conduct a certain amount of _issues_ lobbying, cost not to exceed approximately 5% of total revenues. They may host public forums for candidates - as long as they invite ALL candidates to appear at the forum, or one at a time. They should document such invitations by retaining copies of formal letters of invitation for Dem, Rep, Green, and all other party candidates and independent candidates for the given race.
They may NOT endorse parties or candidates.
For the Catholic bishops, the statement that they would refuse communion to politician X because he is insufficiently anti-abortion or anti-gay is effectively a negative endorsement that gets around the IRS rule, since it says right there in Roman canon law that abortion incurs automatic excommunication. It is common nowadays for bishops to make such statements over hypotheticals - ie, the politician isn't in their diocese. I am waiting for them to excommunicate non-RC lay politicians (an absurdity). The bishops are skilled at pushing the rules, and can do so with more ease than the smaller denominations and individual unimportant congregations.
How about this. The Reverend Bernardo Alvarez, Bishop of Tenerife, said that some youngsters want to be abused. He added:
"There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you". He also went on to claim that sexual abuse is akin to homosexuality and both are harmful to society, equating homosexuality to child abuse. Damn. They keep trying to spin it so bad, so uselessly and hopelessly, it's like a disease.
Nancy P...thank you for breaking that down! I've noticed some progressives calling for churches that do this shit to have their non-profit status revoked and it confused the hell out of me that nothing is done toward that end.
Sounds like the church knows how to dance on the line without crossing it.
Ugh.
Thanks!
And... did you get the bit about peadophelia and homosexuality...
Then the pope thinks they should repent and ask God for forgiveness. Really? Not fucking help the kids.
It's almost as if they need to sit still and SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Excuse the language. Fallen catholic... here
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