Letter to the editor : Maine law still keeps victims from holding Catholic Church accountable.-

Paul Kendrick  
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Re: Monday’s Maine Voices column:

Maine’s charitable immunity statute provides organizations such as the Catholic Church with immunity from civil lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse.

The Catholic Church in Maine receives $55 million a year in revenues and owns approximately $140 million in assets.

Victims are denied access to depositions, discovery, a judge and a jury of their peers.

Victims must not be shut out of the legal process before they can even begin. The starting line must not be the finish line. Maine is one of only nine states that retains the charitable immunity defense.

The door recently opened by the Legislature and governor (L.D. 589) will just as quickly be closed unless further action is taken by the Legislature.

• Civil lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse help expose pedophiles who have outrun the criminal statutes of limitation and remain anonymous.

• Civil lawsuits provide wounded victims with the means to procure financial reparations for their harms and injuries.

• Civil lawsuits provide opportunities for victims to demand non-monetary changes to systems and procedures that will better protect children.

Former Bishop Richard Malone founded the Catholic Foundation of Maine, a cleverly disguised nonprofit intended to shield assets from child sexual abuse lawsuits. The Catholic Foundation of Maine owns $29 million in liquid investments.

The Catholic Church is not the poor and struggling charity that legislators intended to protect 100 years ago when the charitable immunity statute was enacted.

Legislators must amend Maine’s charitable immunity statute so that nonprofits are no longer protected from civil liability for sex crimes against children.

Paul Kendrick
Freeport