facebook
rss
twitter
  • About
    • Contact
    • Elementary & Secondary Education Department
    • Social Concerns Department
  • Legislative Review
  • Issues
    • Catholic Education
    • Faith and Politics
    • Health Care
    • Life and Dignity
    • Marriage and Family
    • Religious Liberty
    • Social Justice
  • Bishops’ Statements
    • En Español
  • Resources
    • Bulletin Inserts
    • Church Documents
    • PA Catholic Statistics
    • Related Sites
    • Send A Letter to The Editor
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feeds
    • Via E-mail
  • Contact
  • Podcast

Bill Would Harm Schools, Parishes, Services

June 06, 2016
by Blue
HB 1947, House Bill 1947, safe environment training, statutes of limitations, victim assistance
Comments are off

Send a message to your legislators about House Bill 1947.

The following commentary by Wilmington attorney Stephen E. Jenkins appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 5.

Pennsylvania House Bill 1947, which has now been sent to the Pennsylvania Senate, would largely eliminate the statute of limitations relating to allegations of child sexual abuse by private parties. Among other things, it would allow civil claims for abuse to be brought at any time until a victim is 50 years old. In addition, some – but not most – victims will be allowed to sue for abuse that happened decades ago.

Many politicians and plaintiffs’ lawyers say that this represents long-needed “reform” and “justice.” I have a different perspective.

I was the volunteer attorney for a variety of Catholic institutions in Delaware after a similar bill was passed. Far from justice and reform, I saw the devastation it caused and the unfairness it created.

Supporters of HB 1947 claim that not one school, church, or charitable activity has been closed down in states that have passed similar legislation. That claim is wrong.

In Delaware, for example, one excellent inner-city school, St. Paul’s, which served a primarily poor Hispanic population, was forced to shutter its doors because the money it needed to operate went instead to settle lawsuits. Another school, Pope John Paul II, closed only months after the settlement because it had a sudden financial emergency and the money for such emergencies had been taken for the settlement.

Nor did the cuts end there. Ten percent of the diocesan employees were laid off, and Catholic Charities, Catholic cemeteries, and many parishes were required to chip in millions of their badly needed dollars to settle the cases. Those payments reduced the ability of all of them to carry out their ministries.

And where did the money come from? Not from the abusers or wrongdoers, who didn’t pay anything.

Instead, every dime originally came from members of the church who donated it to help the church carry out its ministries. In the end, a significant percentage of the amount paid in settlement went to lawyers and legal costs.

To make matters worse, the Delaware bill was discriminatory. It allowed suits by victims against private institutions and churches but prevented most victims of government employees from suing for past abuse. HB 1947 does the same thing.

The Pennsylvania bill does not permit victims of government employees to sue for past sexual abuse. It also requires a victim of future sexual abuse to prove that a state institution was “grossly negligent,” a much tougher standard.

Yet, by all indications, there is far more sexual abuse of children in government institutions than in private ones. Just a few days ago the Inquirer carried an alarming story about possible sexual abuse and cover-ups occurring in the Plum Borough School District, in Western Pennsylvania. If these claims are true, it will show that at least one school district has failed to put into place the child-protection steps that private institutions started implementing decades ago.

Why the double standard? Why are victims of sexual abuse in a public school any less deserving or important than private-school victims?

If justice demands that private-school victims be given a chance to sue for past injuries, what kind of justice is it that says that public-school victims have no such rights?

Child sexual abuse is evil, and the abusers deserve to be punished for their terrible crimes. But HB 1947 isn’t going to punish a single abuser. Instead, it will almost certainly result in closed schools and reduced ministries, thus hurting the innocent – particularly children and the poor.

Meanwhile, victims who suffered precisely the same horrifying abuse in public schools will get nothing, merely because the abuse was committed by a government employee.

How does such a bill represent justice?

Send a message to your legislators about House Bill 1947.

About the Author
Social Share
  • google-share

News From Around PA

  • One new, merged parish to be created July 1, 2023
  • Archbishop Asks for Special Intention for Healing and Peace for our City and Country on the Occasion of Pentecost; Highlights Work of the Commission on Racial Healing
  • At Pentecost, The Spirit Unites Us Together In Mission
  • Statement from Bishop David Zubik for Memorial Day
  • A church of the many: Pope addresses some synod questions, fears
  • Pray at Pentecost for courage to evangelize, pope says
Click To Read More

Post Archives

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

Recent Posts

Debate in PA House on House Bill 300; Exposing Underlying Components
May 03, 2023
This Week at the PA Capitol: Debate on the “Fairness Bill”
Apr 27, 2023
PA Sen. Judy Ward Talks About Real Alternatives and Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Apr 17, 2023

All Issues

  • Catholic Education
  • Faith and Politics
  • Health Care
  • Life and Dignity
  • Marriage and Family
  • Religious Liberty
  • Social Justice

banner

Sign up to join the Catholic Advocacy Network today!

CClogo© 2021 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Bookmark and Share Site by Halibut Blue® | Login