News: Catholic church fights molestation charges

inspiration4

WARNING: this **** is NOT a joke.......and is pure comedic gold

CNN:

Quote:

Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) -- A bill in Connecticut's legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state's Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure.
Under current Connecticut law, sexual abuse victims have 30 years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. The proposed change to the law would rescind that statute of limitations.

The proposed change to the law would put "all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk," says the letter, which was signed by Connecticut's three Roman Catholic bishops.

The letter is posted on the Web site of the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, the public policy and advocacy office of Connecticut's Catholic bishops. It asks parishioners to contact their legislators in opposition of the bill.

The "legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities," the letter says.

The Catholic archdiocese of Hartford also published a pulpit announcement on its Web site, which was to be read during Mass on Sunday, urging parishioners to express opposition to the bill.

The bill has been revised to address some of the church's concerns about frivolous abuse claims against it, according to Connecticut state Rep. Beth Bye, one of the bill's sponsors.

"The church didn't recognize that this bill makes improvements," Bye said. "The victims -- their lives have been changed and some will never recover from years of sexual abuse. For me, it's about giving them access to the courts."

Under the bill's provisions, anyone older than 48 who makes a sex abuse claim against the church would need to join an existing claim filed by someone 48 or younger. Older claimants would need to show substantial proof that they were abused.

"They were worried about frivolous lawsuits and so we made the bar high," Bye said.

The bill does not target the Catholic Church, she said.

The bishops' letter raised concerns that the bill would allow claims that are 70 years or older, in which "key individuals are deceased, memories have been faded, and documents and other evidence have been lost." The letter said that the majority of cases would be driven by "trial lawyers hoping to profit from these cases."

The bill passed in Connecticut's House of Representatives, and Bye said the state Senate should vote on it in the next week or two.

I've been laughing my ass off at the comments regarding this article at CNN.....here's a few of my favorite's........

"this is so embarrassing. what is the catholic church so afraid of? that the 50+ crowd that were raped will sue the church. The church has enough money to pay the law suits of the alter boys that are now 30 and 40 years old, but not for the rape victims that are 50 and 60 years old. What would Jesus say to all of this?"

"The Catholic Church will defend their right to little boy butts to the very end. I would not be surprised if this law does not pass, due to the fact that most Catholics agree that their priests deserve little boy butts."

"So, the Catholic Church is now fully giving up on pretending that they care one iota about victims of the predators they protect? Great. If they're worried about the money they'll lose in lawsuit settlements maybe the Pope can sell some of his regalia and jewels for a "little" extra cash."

This****ISTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMUCH

and Shout-out to the non-religious.........may we all burn in hell along with the catholic church's entire leadership

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/11/...ex.html?hpt=T1

iLays

Regardless of age, since when has molestation ever been funny?

R!ck

This is not funny @ all *_*

MusicTalker

The molestation part is horrible & not funny at all

However, I found the way the Catholic Church is handling these allegations hilarious. They say they are innocent, then change their minds. And the way they are acting as if every priest does that innapropriate behavior is frankly
disturbing.

I can no longer take the Catholic Church seriously, to be honest.

inspiration4

Quote:

Originally posted by iLays

Regardless of age, since when has molestation ever been funny?

It's the IRONY that is funny...... these people have been annointed super spiritual status by their followers and are just as corrupt, if not more so than your average criminals.....This supposed "religious" body who spends their time dictating how everybody should live a life void of what THEY consider "sins" has effectiveley been exposed as a worldwide child molestation ring.

M A R N ✮

MusicTalker

Quote:

Originally posted by inspiration4

It's the IRONY that is funny...... these people have been annointed super spiritual status by their followers and are just as corrupt, if not more so than your average criminals.....This supposed "religious" body who spends their time dictating how everybody should live a life void of what THEY consider "sins" has effectiveley been exposed as a worldwide child molestation ring.

Exactly. Your thinking it's funny had nothing to do with the actual crimes. It had to do with the church's handling of the situation.

I disagree with what you said about the entire Catholic Church committing these crimes. However, the way the Catholic Church is handling it is making it seem that way. They are just making it worse.

I remember I got pissed when I heard someone (a cardinal, I think) tell the people "Ignore all the petty gossip". MOLESTATION IS NOT "PETTY GOSSIP"!!!

Ugh this is why I don't get involved with religion

Sorry for the essay

manwhore

are you protestant and just trying to shade catholics?? pft... whatever.. a religious discussion SOOOOO DOES not belong on atrl.. DOES NOT.