Opinion Piece: Sexual abuse of kids is not a Catholic Diocese problem

Letter to the editor, published in The News Journal, April 2, 2007

I am writing in support of Senate Bill 29, the Child Victims Act.

Once again, the primary opponent of eliminating the two- year statute of limitations and allowing adult victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil suit is the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. The Diocese once again assumes that the intention of this legislation is to attack the Catholic Church.

The overwhelming majority of cases of sexual abuse do not involve a Catholic priest. Sexual predators come in many stripes, including parents, step-parents, older siblings, neighbors, friends of the family, paramours of a single parent, babysitters, strangers, and, occasionally, a clergy-person.

How dare the Diocese self righteously and very publicly proclaim its support for this important legislation while secretly pulling out all the stops to squash it because of perceived threat to its finances.

James M. Walsh, Newark