“THAT, my dear, is the MAIN reason why these lawsuits have been filed”.
No the main reason these lawsuits are filed is because of MONEY. Did you know that clergy are the only people in the world that have no statute of limitations against filing a claim against them? Teachers, cops, firemen, all of public servants, and all other segments of society have a statute of limitations, or how long you can wait before filing charges against someone.......except the clergy.
It goes something like this: A shyster lawyer runs an ad saying that if you have ever been sexually abused by a priest to come and see him, that he can help. You are broke. You go see the lawyer. He tells you that “dream” you had of being molested 40 years ago will never go away unless you get a shrink and unless you file charges against Father Tom. He lets you know there are no statute of limitations against Father Tom. You start seeing dollars signs in your head and retired 85 year old Father Tom is arrested. He has no defense. He denies it ever happened. But that’s not good enough. He’s a Catholic priest, therefore he has to be guilty. To make the story go away, because there is no way this Catholic priest can prove his innocence, the local diocese pays the ranson money. The “victim” and the shyster lawyer are happy campers. The 85 year old Catholic priest, is humiliated and labeled a sex offender and has to register as a sex offender.
If this story has involved a cop, a school teacher, a fireman, a politician, or anyone else, the judge would have thrown it out of court due the statute of limitations having ran out.
It’s all about FOLLOW THE MONEY. It’s all about destroying the moral authority of the Catholic Church. End of story.