Bridgeport diocese loses last round of legal battle over sex-abuse papers
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- October
- 5
It appears that the Diocese of Bridgeport’s long struggle to keep secret stacks of legal documents related to sex abuse is finally over.
And the diocese has lost.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused today to block the release of 12,000 pages of documents from 23 lawsuits against 6 priests.
The records have been sealed since the cases were settled in 2001, but the Connecticut courts have ruled that they should be released.
The Diocese says:
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We are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to extend the stay.
The content of the sealed documents soon to be released has already been extensively reported on.
For more than a decade, the Catholic Church in Bridgeport has addressed the issue of clergy sexual abuse compassionately and comprehensively.
For now, however, the serious threat to the First Amendment rights of all churches and the rightful privacy of all litigants remain in jeopardy because of the decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court. This, indeed, is regrettable.
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Dan Bartley, president of the lay reform group, Voice of the Faithful, says:
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Voice of the Faithful respectfully insists that Bishop Lori accept the Supreme Court decision and stop blocking the right of Catholics in Connecticut to know what happened. Bishop Lori must stop wasting untold hundreds of thousands of parishioners’ dollars to prevent these same parishioners, and the public, from finding out how Lori’s predecessors, including recently retired Cardinal Edward Egan, dealt with cases of sexual abuse of children.
This entry was posted
on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 3:05 pm by Gary Stern.
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The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
They are going to crucify Egan with this.
Gald we have front row seats.