Bill Donohue comments on a New York abuse bill that failed:
The bill was sold as justice for the victims of sexual abuse, when, in fact, it was a sham: the proposed legislation that failed to make it to the floor of the New York State legislature in the wee hours of Saturday (the session that began on Friday ended at 5:00 a.m. the next day), was a vindictive bill pushed by lawyers and activists out to rape the Catholic Church.
The principal enemy of the Church, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, was confident that her bill would pass. On May 30, she told her allies at the discredited Daily News—the paper broke every tenet of journalism in its war on Catholicism—that “there is a strong movement in our house to bring [the bill] to a vote in the next few weeks.” On June 5, she told her buddies, “I really think we have a chance of getting this bill passed.”
If the statute of limitations were lifted on offenses involving the sexual abuse of minors, the only winners would be greedy and bigoted lawyers out to line their pockets in a rash of settlements. The big losers would be the poor, about whom the attorneys and activists care little: When money is funneled from parishioners to lawyers, services to the needy suffer.
The Catholic League is proud of its role in this victory. On March 31, we contacted Assemblyman Brad Hoylman requesting that he amend his bill to cover public institutions, and not just private ones. On April 1, we wrote to all members of the legislature asking them not to allow the public schools a pass. We won on this request.
On May 2, the Albany Times Union published a full-page ad exposing the agenda of those out “to stick it to Catholics.” On May 25, we unmasked activist lawyer Michael Dowd. On June 7, we called for the resignation of Markey after she slandered Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. On June 8, we called for an investigation of Markey for violating the public trust. On June 13, we named seven liars in the victims’ lobby. On June 18, the bill failed. While this was a win for justice, more needs to be done: Markey needs to be censured for her recklessness.
