Back on the home front, the Scandal continues as if war were not underway. Recall last month, this quote from the Boston Globe on February 20:
Donna M. Morrissey, the spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said yesterday in a statement that church officials were still reviewing Sweeney’s decision. ‘‘The Archdiocese of Boston is committed to fulfilling its obligation to provide restitution and outreach to victims/survivors and settle the cases in a fair, equitable, and expeditious manner,’’ the statement said. The archdiocese has 30 days to appeal.
At the time, a friend floated a bet that despite the assurance that the archdiocese wanted to settle the cases expeditiously we would see an appeal by the archdiocese on March 21, 30 days from the decision.
It’s a good thing no one took that bet. The archdiocese has filed an appeal of Judge Sweeney’s ruling that the lawsuits against the archdiocese be thrown on First Amendment freedom of religion grounds.
The appeal on the motion, which argued church officials cannot be held civilly liable for decisions related to assignments and supervision of priests because those actions are religiously based, seeks to overturn a denial by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney last month.
As Tom Fitzpatrick said, the claim is bunk unless you want to say that molesting children is a recognized religious practice of the Catholic Church.
