Wisconsin clergy abuse victims want answers on failed legislation

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By Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio

MADISON (WPR) Clergy abuse victims are asking why a favorite bill of theirs died in the Legislature last month. A key lawmaker is responding to the question.

The legislation would have made it easier for people who were sexually abused as children to file civil lawsuits. At one point, the bill would have eliminated the statute of limitations on those cases, but a late compromise discussed in the Senate Judiciary Committee would have required the victim to file the case by age 45.

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The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is upset the bill never made it out of the Senate panel. At a news conference outside the Catholic church of committee member Jim Sullivan, SNAP's Mary Guentner talked about rumors that Milwaukee's Archbishop threatened to bar Sen. Sullivan from communion, if Sullivan voted for the bill.

SNAP also wants Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki to declare in writing that he won't deny communion to a lawmaker who votes for a crackdown on child sex abuse. But Sen. Sullivan says the Catholic Church did not pressure him to help block the recent bill. Sullivan says it's a bad idea to weaken the statute of limitations.

Sullivan is one of several Democratic incumbents expecting tough challenges in their re-election bid this year, but victims groups acknowledge that when Republicans controlled the legislature, the GOP blocked clergy abuse crackdowns, too.

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org

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