Letters: Does Pa. sex-abuse bill treat everyone equally?

ISSUE | SEXUAL ABUSE

Treat all fairly

Gov. Wolf calls opponents of House Bill 1947 "misguided" ("Protect all victims," Monday). Is it misguided to believe that legislation giving victims until age 50 to sue their abusers should treat all offenders equally irrespective of their employment?

House Bill 1947 incontrovertibly makes it more difficult to sue employees or agents of public institutions. The standard of proof is higher, the filing period is much shorter, and the relief provided to victims is greatly reduced for claims brought against public institutions.

The legislation should be amended to apply equally to every institution - whether public, private, or nonprofit - in all provisions.

Eileen M. Zaleski, Philadelphia

A valid message

The message that my parish (St. Anthony's in Ambler) and many others received from Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput strongly criticized state House Bill 1947 as unfairly targeting private institutions, including Catholic schools, without targeting public institutions ("Lawmakers feel church's heat," June 9). Parishioners were urged to contact their legislators to make this point.

The message, delivered at Masses and in church bulletins, contained no invective or personal attacks. Rather, it promoted citizen knowledge and participation - the essence of our democracy. This is the opposite of what was described by legislators who said they had been targeted by name for backing the bill.

The Inquirer should have printed the archbishop's entire message to give the full picture.

Pete Sigmund, Ambler, prsig@verizon.net