As journalists know only too well, lawsuits for defamation -- especially those brought by politicians -- are often attempts to stifle legitimate criticism. But not every lawsuit for slander or libel is brought in bad faith. Within the protections of the First Amendment, American law allows someone whose name has been falsely blackened to go to court to contest the allegations.
Given that reality, Roman Catholic priests who believe they have been wrongly accused of sexually abusing minors have the legal right to try to clear their names. And, according to an Associated Press story published in the Post-Gazette yesterday, that is what priests in various dioceses have done, filing defamation actions against their accusers.
The lawsuits have brought criticism that they betray the spirit of the American bishops' historic statement at a meeting in Dallas this summer to root out abusive clergymen and support their victims. But a spokeswoman for the bishops' conference rightly pointed out that the statement adopted by the conference in Dallas also said that "when the accusation has proved to be unfounded, every step possible will be taken to restore the good name of the priest."
Given past policies pursued by some bishops -- transferring abusive priests to new assignments, paying off victims in confidential legal settlements -- it's understandable that victims and their advocates would see these defamation lawsuits as part of a continuing cover-up. (The priests filing lawsuits are acting on their own, but in some cases their bishops have publicly questioned the allegations.)
By their own admission, America's Catholic bishops in the past showed excessive leniency toward priests who abused children. But it doesn't follow that every accusation against a priest (or a teacher or a Scout leader) will be well-founded.
In the 1980s, when the national focus was on child abuse at day-care centers rather than in churches, a bumper-sticker slogan said: "Believe the Children!" The simplistic assumption was that children (and their parents) never lie. In fact, some sensational allegations of child abuse from that era were eventually debunked.
Reluctantly in some cases, America's Catholic bishops are now erring on the side of protecting children in removing from ministry priests against whom plausible accusations of abuse have been lodged. The advantage of such a policy is obvious after recent revelations in Boston and elsewhere. The disadvantage is that some innocent priests might be maliciously mislabeled as corrupters of children. A priest who finds himself in that situation has a right to seek redress in court.
E-mail this story 
