The following statement was released this week.
A challenge to the constitutionality of the California law (Senate Bill 1779) that eliminated the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases (the time limit for victims of sexual abuse to bring civil suits against employers) filed in California Courts during the 2003 calendar year has now been filed in Federal Court by the Diocese of Davenport. We, the Catholic Bishops of California, have also questioned the fairness and constitutionality of the law. We believe that the challenge by Davenport is well taken and we support this challenge.
As Bishops and Pastors, we must be concerned both for the victims and their healing, and for the continuation of the Church's ministries and apostolates, as well as our outreach to the broader community.
Our legal advisors have called to our attention the following reasons in support of such a constitutional challenge to this law (Senate Bill 1779):
The Statute was not a law of general application and its effects were not broadly felt. Studies on the abuse of children have demonstrated the widespread societal prevalence of this shameful problem, yet of the hundreds of lawsuits filed, all but a tiny fraction have been directed against the Catholic Church. In the midst of the unprecedented media coverage of the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal during 2002, the California Legislature enacted this discriminatory legislation crafted by plaintiffs' attorneys seeking only one result against a single institution: the Catholic Church.
1. The law violates the Ex Post Facto clause of the U.S. Constitution
---The Ex Post Facto clause prohibits States from enacting penal laws that operate retroactively. The Law imposes new retroactive standards. It permits the revival of claims that have been settled, that had been litigated to finality in the courts, or that had lapsed under the previous law.
---The law retroactively and unconstitutionally changes the legal consequences of acts and omissions which occurred before its enactment.
2. The law violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution
---The Due Process Clause is a protection from the extreme hardship and oppressive effects of having to investigate and defend claims that are so old that doing so is nearly impossible.
---Critical witnesses from the relevant period are dead, have impaired memories or are otherwise unavailable. Many allegations are against priests who are dead, some for many decades.
---Many pastors, bishops and other clergy who could have knowledge of whether misconduct was alleged or had occurred, are also dead.
---No one anticipated being sued for acts that happened as long as seventy years ago, so locating records is tremendously burdensome or altogether impossible.
---No records at all are available for many lay employees and volunteers who worked at parishes and who could be "witnesses" to corroborate allegations.
---Information about the accusing parties and their families is often lacking. Roman Catholic entities in California have served tens of millions of people since the 1930s. Specific information about particular plaintiffs or other accusing parties is hardly available for recent events, let alone events that are decades old.
---This law imposes special hardships and oppressive effects upon the Catholic Church in California. By making a fair defense impossible, it ensures almost certain liability for the Church.
3. The law violates the Bill of Attainder clause of the U.S. Constitution
---Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist defined a bill of attainder as "a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial."
---By way of Senate Bill 1779, the California Legislature singled out the Catholic Church, declared it guilty, and imposed penalties on it.
---Senate Bill 1779 was designed to transfer massive amounts of the Church's assets to self-interested attorneys.
---It punishes the Catholic Church by forcing it to spend a great deal of money investigating old claims and multiple claims that have only surfaced in 2003 or recently.
For all the reasons above, we believe the legal challenge presented by the Davenport Diocese provides an opportunity to review Senate Bill 1779 and test its fairness as law towards the Catholic Church. Our responsibility as Pastors and stewards of the Church requires us to question a law that threatens the Church's mission. Our efforts to ensure both the pastoral works of the Church and the just relief of the victims of sexual abuse are being endangered by the flawed character of this law.
Our support for the legal action by the Davenport Diocese does not diminish our abiding concerns: to make certain the Church is safe for everyone, especially for children and youth; to reach out to victims of clergy sexual abuse, and their families, with spiritual and pastoral care and counseling; to continue our efforts for a just and fair settlement with all victims of clergy sexual abuse.
We will continue to keep you, our Catholic people, informed of our ongoing efforts on all of these matters. We ask your prayers for all who have suffered sexual abuse, and we ask your continued prayerful support for your Church throughout California. |