… I don’t think every case that comes forward at this late date is necessarily legit.

Yes, because people make false rape and assault claims all the time. Because rape and assault victims are treated with decency and respect and are believed in the majority of cases, and so it would be totally profitable, easy, and not humiliating or traumatizing for people to bring false lawsuits. Because rape and assault investigations usually end up with convictions (or in this case, damages) for the alleged rapists and assailants and a hefty cash payout for the alleged victims.

Because it’s not common for victims to be shamed, socialized, and threatened into staying silent about their abuse until years after the fact. Because the Catholic Church hasn’t been stonewalling and doing its damnedest to suppress the abuse cases and avoid accountability and justice by shuffling alleged molesters to other churches. After all, it’s not like one of the archbishops that covered up the abuse claims in Boston was pulled out of the States and given plum positions presiding over two large churches in Rome.

Oh, wait a minute.

The claim that there will be enough false lawsuits that it will substantially damage innocent churchgoers, and so the Catholic Church should escape accountability, is no different from rape apologism that asks, “Why do you want to press charges? [The rapist's] such a nice person, do you really want to ruin his life?” You’re also buying into the idea that there are tons of false rape and assault claims and that the defendants lose in a majority of cases.

Also, parents/guardians of Catholic school-enrolled children are, of course, paying their property taxes and keeping local public schools afloat in addition to paying tuition for a second institution.

God, tell me about it. I don’t have kids and I still get nailed in property taxes to prop up a shitty school system that tried to kick me out because I was disabled.

Can’t speak specifically for NY, but in Chicago the archdiocease and local Catholic organizations have really stepped up to the plate to help keep Catholic education affordable to inner city students. And when considering private schools in Chicago, the Catholic system is by far the most affordable (compare to the tens of thousands it takes to send children to UofC Lab School, the Obama daughters’ former institution) and is often across the board as high in quality (if not higher) than local private schools and public magnets.

Also, parents/guardians of Catholic school-enrolled children are, of course, paying their property taxes and keeping local public schools afloat in addition to paying tuition for a second institution. So it’s not like Catholic schools have been sponging and getting a free ride at the expense of public schools. Quite the opposite, I would argue.

I second that!

I grew up Catholic and my mother taught me that “Catholics ARE Democrats.” All of my grandparents were Democrats. However, my parents’ generation started to shift towards Republican. Most of my dad’s brothers and sisters (big catholic family!) are now Republican, but I think that has more to do with the culture they live in (Nebraska), than their religion.

All this talk of “We can’t hold the Church responsible for child rape because someone might lie!” stuff reminds me of: “We can’t take rape claims seriously because women might lie about it!”

Children are in the “To Be Controlled” category right along with women sometimes.

The Catholic Church may not be a democracy, as its conservative adherents never tire of saying, but money still talks.

But the child abuse scandal is pretty cut and dried. The Church handled the situation very poorly and frankly, whatever size financial loss they suffer will still leave them getting off easy. I don’t care if people DO bring fraudulent cases against them, the Church clearly did not do the right thing on a number of occasions during the whole fiasco and whatever it takes to emblazon responsibility into the skulls of the officials, so be it. The Church has plenty of resources and really, no amount of financial loss is going to send a message, but if their lobby to keep this from happening fails and the state allows the legal system to put them in a position where they are clearly disadvantaged, THAT would send a message.
I realize it may sound harsh, since the RCC has done quite a bit to effect change already, but really, we’re not talking about new legislation or regulation or external oversight or anything that really changes the Church’s standing at all. It’s just money. I have a hard feeling sorry for their financial loss.

Changing the statute of limitations overall would be too drastic, I think, but allowing a one-time opening of the window to bring to light the drastic failings in this one area seems more than fair.

i believe you are making an unwaranted assumption. you are assuming that a person who goes to an ER having a miscarriage will have access to an OB/Gyn who has been trained to do D&Cs, and similiar procedures.

let me tell you that this is not always the case. its not an issue ONLY in Catholic hospitals, either. while an ER might (MIGHT!) have access to an OB/Gyn who is on call – i know, from direct stories (my mother is an OB Nurse Practicioner) that those doctors? don’t always come. in fact, over the course of 15 years working a floor (instead of in private practice, as she is now) my mother LITERALLY, as just a plain ‘ol nurse (no extra degree at the time) delivered THREE TIMES the number of babies as the doctors who had patients there. often, the doctor would show a couple of hours after the delivery was over, then charge the woman for the DELIVERY, despite their absence! don’t get me wrong, the doctors were always there for Caesarians. but for general labors? not usually.

further, ER doctors, SO not really trained. i mean, they probably have had the basics, but they didn’t get more and sure as hell don’t get practice. three weeks ago, i was sent to the ER. horrible kindey issues (not an infection, drug interaction issues) the ER doc, for whatever reason (and despite a pap smear a month before the ER visit) insisted i needed a pelvic exam and full STD workup. even though i have 1 partner, have not had any other partner for 6 years, etc. he insisted.
i thought he was going to KILL me. i have NEVER had a pelvic exam like that. i screamed. *I*, who had 4 hip surgeries this last summer and was walking the day after every one (look, they cut off my hip rotated it and screwed it back on) i screamed. he had no freaking clue, at one point the nurse had to tell him how to take the light thingy back out. and i had asked for an OB doc to do it, because i know ER docs don’t do them often, and i was told that they only ONLY time the ER was allowed to call for OBs was labor or a dying pregnant woman. period. even a miscarriage, if the woman wasn’t dying, didn’t get an OB.

and this was at Ohio State University Hospital. not a religious hospital of ANY sort.

so, yeah, assuming that there is someone to do a D&C or anything similiar? not a good assumption. people always think that there are LOTS of doctors who can do these things. according to my mother, less than a FIFTH of the doctors she has ever worked with were given even BASIC abortion training. and that training, the basic, was how to treat a BOTCHED abortion – to learn how to DO one is a higher level of training. i am sure that there are more docs who can do D&Cs than that, but there aren’t hordes. and, sadly, there are LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of women who go to health care centers of whatever sort, and never get treatments they need because “abortion is murder” and an ectopic pregnancy, or a toxic pregnancy, or like in my case some other issue (i have prophyria. pregnancy will kill me by the 6th month. its a dominate genetic disorder. assume that somehow i survive to give birth, which i have a 5% chance of doing. and assume baby survives to be born, about the same level of chance. that kid? will be born with ACTIVE porphyria… i shudder at that thought. but a Catholic hospital would have let me die in pregnancy, because “abortion is murder”, but letting me die isn’t.) and if, as in MANY places, the only place around is a Catholic hospital, or your insurance won’t cover other hospitals, or the non-catholic hospital is an hour away…

it’s scarey. it happens. women die because of these policies.

BTW, women who lose a tube to an ectopic pregnancy only have a 60% chance of pregnancy after that. Removing a tube should never be the first choice.

it’s not “the church” that will be hurting, but the faithful with their butts in the pews every week trying to pay for this stuff.

Well, they have their raping priests to thank for that.