Hartford, Conn., Apr 20, 2010 / 01:04 am
The Chancellor for the Diocese of Bridgeport charged that the paper was “way off-key” in a recent editorial criticizing the Catholic Church's opposition to H.B. 5473, a bill which would eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a minor.
On April 12, the Connecticut Post ran an editorial titled, “Wrong response to abuse bill” which stated that “it is inconceivable that Catholic officials would take a public stand on an issue involving child sex abuse that is not foresquare behind the rights of victims.”
The editorial further criticized the Connecticut bishops, saying their argument against the bill “is incorrect in its particulars” and also “shockingly tone-deaf.”
In a letter, Archbishop Henry Mansell of the Archdiocese of Hartford made a plea to parishioners in the state to fight the bill. The archbishop, along with other bishops in Connecticut, claimed that the legislation unfairly targets the Church since it excludes public institutions from lawsuits because they are protected under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, reported Jack Sheedy from the local diocesan paper, the Catholic Transcript. Currently, the statute of limitations in Connecticut is 30 years once the alleged victim is 18 years old.