Monday, April 12, 2010

Learning Is Hard

There continues to be a lot of ink spilled about the Catholic Church and its policies towards priests who molest kids.  You would think that they would start to learn that fighting the public on this would be a bad idea, but no.  Lesson has not been learned yet.  Connecticut is in the process of passing a law that would remove the statute of limitations on child abuse
The Church insists:
The "legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities," the letter says.
Unless their mission is to condone or cover up child abuse, I am not sure how letting 50 year olds (the existing law says that folks must file their charges before 30 years have passed since they turned 18) file complaints against anyone (not just priests) would threaten the Catholic Church.  Unless they are hiding more pedophiles, that is.

Once again, it seems to be the case that the cover up is doing as much or more damage to the institution than the crimes themselves.  Since this new law is not explicitly aimed at the Catholic Church and has measures to prevent frivolous complaints, the Catholic Church should be stepping aside rather than trying to block the bill.  But it seems to be the case that the Church has no clue about public relations.  Its learning curve is mighty flat.

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