Survivors are coming forward with accounts of childhood sexual abuse by priests, pastors, ministers, deacons, youth leaders, teachers, and counselors affiliated with religious institutions. Clergy abuse is not confined to any one denomination: claims involve Catholic dioceses and religious orders as well as Protestant, Baptist, evangelical, and nondenominational churches, along with religious schools, seminaries, church-run youth groups, and summer camps. The accounts describe a recurring pattern — an adult holding spiritual authority over a child, and an institution that received complaints and responded by transferring the abuser to a new congregation rather than reporting the conduct or removing him from contact with children.
Civil claims in these cases are brought against both the individual abuser and the institution that enabled him, under theories including negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, and fraudulent concealment of known abuse. A claim does not depend on the abuser ever having been arrested or criminally convicted, and it can often proceed even if the abuser has died, because it is the institution's own conduct that is at issue. Many states have opened lookback windows that revive childhood sexual abuse claims once barred by the statute of limitations, and others have extended or eliminated their filing deadlines entirely. These windows are time-limited and the rules vary from state to state, so eligibility depends on where and when the abuse occurred — attorneys are reviewing new claims now.
If you were sexually abused as a child by a member of the clergy, the law may still provide a path to accountability — and to recognition of what was taken from you.
