The
secular assault against the Catholic
Church continues. There has been the
media's overemphasis on sexual abuses
in the Catholic Church, while keeping
quiet over sexual abuses in the Protestant
churches (which are greater in frequency)
and in secular educational institutions
(which are much greater in frequency).
There has been the personal attacks
on the pope, trying to pin him down
on these clerical sexual abuses. Now
here is a court case against the Vatican,
which is a sovereign state.
The anti-life, anti-family, homosexualist
forces are going all out in trying to
bring down the one institution that
stands in the way of their diabolical
agenda. At the forefront of this are
the US and Western nations, backed by
secular media. Though the gates of hell
cannot prevail against the body of Christ
on earth, the enemy can cause great
confusion and even a weakening of the
body.
But this is a time of purification for
the Church, her own Job experience.
And so it is a blessed time. The attacks
of the enemy have awakened many bishops
and ordinary Catholic laypeople. It
is a time to rise in defense of the
Church, and to really prepare for the
final battle.
US
Supreme Court Denies Vatican Appeal
Sends Oregon Abuse Case Back to District
Courts
WASHINGTON,
D.C., JUNE 30, 2010 (Zenit.org).-
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear
an appeal from the Vatican that would
contest the decision of the lower courts
in Oregon to allow the Holy See to be
sued for transferring a known sex offender
from Ireland to Chicago to Oregon.
The
court issued its decision Monday, which
in effect allows the lawsuit John V.
Doe v. Holy See to move forward in the
Oregon courts, where it was initially
filed.
The
plaintiff, who says a priest of the
Servants of Mary, Father Andrew Ronan,
molested him in the 1960s, accuses the
Vatican of negligence in dealing with
the known sexual abuser. The priest
had been found guilty of abusing boys
in Ireland and Chicago before he was
moved Portland.
Jeff
Anderson, the attorney for John V. Doe,
said on Monday that "the claims
against the Holy See included vicarious
liability for the acts of its instrumentalities
and domestic corporations, respondeat
superior for the actions of Ronan as
an alleged employee of the Holy See,
and direct liability based on the Holy
See’s own negligence in retention
and supervision of Ronan, and its failure
to warn of his harmful propensities."
The Holy See's attorney in the case,
Jeffrey Lena, invoked sovereign immunity
in an attempt to get the lawsuit dismissed,
but both the district court and the
9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied
the motion, based on exceptions in the
law. The court said that if Father Ronan
could be considered an employee of the
Vatican, then it would be ultimately
responsible for his actions.
Lena
petitioned the Supreme Court to hear
an appeal, but that petition was denied
Monday.
Disappointment
In
comments to the National Catholic Register,
Lena said that while the decision is
disappointing, it's not a decision against
the Holy See's case.
"It
would have been helpful had the Supreme
Court accepted the case," he told
the newspaper, "but the issue before
the court was narrow, relating only
to the meaning of the term 'scope of
employment.' The decision of the court
not to take the case is not a reflection
of a lack of merit. In fact, as is well
known, the United States agrees with
the Holy See on the underlying legal
issue."
He
said the next step is to return to the
district court in Oregon, and prove
that Father Ronan was not an employee
of the Vatican, "and that, therefore,
the district court does not have jurisdiction
over the case."
"The
Holy See did not pay the salary of the
priest or provide his benefits or exercise
day-to-day control over him," Lena
explained, "or have any other connection
with him indicating the presence of
an employment relationship."
"For
to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain." (Phil 1:21)