From Massachusetts. (Bad News).From Massachusetts to Hawaii, church lawyers have recently changed tactics for dealing with mounting sex abuse cases. Instead of settling quietly, they're playing hardball hard·ball n. 1. Baseball. 2. Informal The use of any means, however ruthless, to attain an objective. hardball Noun US & Canad 1. in court Case in point: After a sacristan sac·ris·tan n. 1. One who is in charge of a sacristy. 2. A sexton. [Middle English, from Medieval Latin sacrist in the Diocese of Honolulu pleaded guilty to molesting a 10-year-old he trained to be an altar boy, the boy's single mother sued the diocese. They countersued in April, saying she was negligent negligent adj., adv. careless in not fulfilling responsibility. (See: negligence) for letting her son sleep over at the sacristan's before early Masses. Similar tactics have cropped up nationwide. Church lawyers asked an Illinois sex abuse victim if he "enjoyed it," and parents of a 6-year-old in Boston were countersued for negligence in trusting Father Paul Shanley Father Paul Richard Shanley (born 25 January 1931), a defrocked priest, served at St. Jean's Parish in Newton, Massachusetts and was a prominent figure in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal. with their son. |
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