Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Supreme Court last week struck down an argument by the Catholic Diocese of Jackson that the First Amendment protected it from being sued for the cover-up of sexual abuse by priests. The $48 million lawsuit filed by the Morrison brothers in 2002 may proceed under the decision.

The diocese argues that the statute of limitations has run out for suing for the abuse, which the the three men—Kenneth of Chicago, Francis of Dallas and Thomas of Jackson—say occurred in the early 1970s. They have accused Rev. George Broussard of the abuse, which their now-deceased father, Francis, reported to the diocese in 1973.

The Morrisons decided to pursue this lawsuit after learning of the widespread cover-up that surfaced in 200, allegedly perpetrated by Cardinal Bernard Law, whom their father told of the abuse. The Morrisons argue that they did not know in time to meet the statute of limitations—due to a civil conspiracy that suppressed information about Law's and other officials' cover-up of the abuse and transferrals of the priests to other parishes where they could, in turn, abuse other children. Law said in 2002 that Broussard had admitted his "inappropriate affection" and "boundary violations" toward the Morrison children. However, the family says that the diocese assured their father that all steps were being taken to halt the abuse, when in fact a cover-up was in progress.

Previous Comments

ID

64575

Comment

Here is the feature story we did last year about the Morrison family's allegations.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-05-11T16:54:05-06:00