Ct. Supreme Court Rules on Sex Abuse Files

In a four to one decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that sealed documents from the Diocese of Bridgeport’s sexual abuse cases can be released to the public.

The New York Times and the Boston Globe have requested those documents be unsealed using the Freedom of Information Act.

The Diocese of Bridgeport has responded to the case here.

The Diocesian press release quotes the Supreme Court's dissenting opinion penned by Justice William Sullivan:“A person of ordinary intelligence and experience would have reason to question Judge Alander’s impartiality in the present case…”

The statement goes on to say, "Well after the legal time limit to challenge the initial sealing of documents, the secular press intervened, demanding access to the court files, including the sealed records. In a decision replete with anti-Catholic Church rhetoric, the trial judge actually invented an entirely new procedure to accommodate this after-the-fact request from the press."

Finally, the diocesian statement says, "Sadly, the history of this case has been about access by the secular media to internal Church documents of cases more than 30 years ago to suggest, unfairly, that nothing has changed. This is despite the extraordinary measures the Catholic Church has undertaken over the past several years to treat victims with great compassion and dignity, and to put in safeguards and educational programs to ensure that such a tragedy will not happen again."

The Court's majority opinion is here.
The Court's dissenting opinion is here.