Gov. Andrew Cuomo escalated his feud with Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Tuesday — singling out the Catholic Church’s leadership as the powerful force that for years blocked passage of the Child Victims Act.
The bill, which passed both houses of the Legislature on Monday, extends the statute of limitations for reporting sex abuse and for filing lawsuits.
Cuomo said it’s ”been documented that the leadership of the church in this state has opposed the Child Victims Act. They’ve been against the Child Victims Act up until this year.”
In an extraordinary move at an Albany press conference on gun safety measures, the governor then pulled out press accounts last year of the cardinal opposing the measure.
Cuomo said the church objected to a provision in the legislation that would permit an “unlimited retroactive window” allowing sex abuse victims to file civil lawsuits over alleged crimes that occurred decades ago.
“We have Eminence Dolan saying that the look back … would be very strangling” to the church, Cuomo said. “He said it targeted the Catholic Church. I didn’t say that. His Eminence said that. The Catholic Church was very up-front on their opposition to this issue. They have shifted their position — and that’s fine.”
The New York State Catholic Conference said it withdrew its opposition this year after it became clear that the legislation also covered public institutions.
But even here, Cuomo’s office disputed the church. The governor’s chief adviser, Melissa DeRosa, said the Catholic Conference opposed an amended version of the bill last year that treated public and private institutions equally.
Cuomo’s broadside came after Dolan wrote a column in Tuesday’s Post that criticized the governor for approving and celebrating an expansion of New York’s abortion law and unfairly blaming the church for blocking the Child Victims Act.
Cuomo agreed with Dolan that heinous child abuse is a societal problem that touches all institutions — not just the church.
But the governor slammed the church for leading the charge to block efforts to make it easier for child abuse victims to seek redress as adults.
“They have done the movies, `Spotlight.’ We have incidents in Buffalo, in Rochester, in Syracuse, where it has been documented that priests have been involved in child abuse,” Cuomo said.
“The Catholic Church was not aggressive in stopping it when they knew about it.”
Later Tuesday on WNYC radio, Cuomo took issue with Dolan’s criticism of Albany’s action last week to strengthen New York’s abortion law.
He said Dolan wants to repeal the entire abortion law.
“We don’t want to go backwards,” Cuomo said.
“Cardinal Dolan agrees with President Trump to roll back Roe vs. Wade. His problem isn’t the New York law. He really has a problem with the federal law. I understand the Catholic Church’s position. My father understood the Catholic Church’s position,” he said, referring to the late Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, a Catholic who also tangled with the church over abortion rights.
The Cardinal told the Sirius XM Catholic channel he hoped his feud with Cuomo would end.
“It’s gotten a lot of publicity, the misunder- maybe not misunderstanding, the battle that Governor Cuomo and I are having… It’s a battle that I didn’t start, that I do not enjoy. And I hope doesn’t continue,” he said.
