Punitive Damages and theCatholic Church

The crime of sexual abuse against children is a most heinous and evil act, a crime that requires severe and decisive action against the perpetrator and conspirators. Child molestation is awful and causes years of mental anguish, shame, confusion, and pain that can cause a lifetime of cognitive and emotional disability. This is the crime priests and their superiors are being charged with. In an interview with John Feister of American Catholic Online, Bishop John F. Kinney, head of the U.S. bishops' committee on clergy sexual abuse said, "If there are people out there who are wondering, is the Church reassigning to ministry and to the parishes those who have abused minors, I am saying, no way. We cannot put the young people of the Church at risk." Unfortunately, many bishops did not take this to heart and criminal priests continued to practice and molest the most vulnerable of victims. Without exception, every one of the 188 dioceses in the American Catholic Church has faced or is facin...