Regis University Denver

In Denver, Chaput fought bill on abuse | Philadelphia Inquirer | 2011-08-07

DENVER - Five years ago, a handful of Colorado legislators sought to make it easier for victims of decades-old sex abuse to sue their tormentors and the organizations that protected them.

The Archdiocese of Denver fought back hard.

The state's Catholic hierarchy - through jeremiads delivered from the pulpit and alliance-building with municipal interest groups and teacher unions - turned an initially popular bill to extend the civil statute of limitations on sex crimes into something politically toxic. By the end of 2006, the bill was dead on the statehouse floor.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, then head of the state's largest archdiocese, stood at the center of that debate.

His vocal opposition made him an enemy to victims' groups, who viewed his political protest as a cunning effort to protect church coffers. But to those who saw their church as under siege from profiteers, Chaput emerged a hero.

"They thought they were fighting for their lives," said Annemarie Jensen, a political strategist who lobbied for the bill on behalf of the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "It was about as ugly a political fight as I've been involved with at the Capitol."

Chaput - who is set to take the helm of Philadelphia's archdiocese next month - says he was just doing his job.

"The Catholic Church wants to be treated like citizens with equal access to protection of the law," Chaput said at a news conference in Philadelphia last month. (The Denver Archdiocese did not make him available for an interview for this article.) "That's all we were asking for in Colorado."

Since the nationwide church scandal began about a decade ago, five states have passed bills temporarily reopening the civil statute of limitations on sex-abuse cases. Eight others, including Pennsylvania, have considered them.

This so-called window legislation allows victims to seek justice years after their abuse by temporarily extending the period in which they can file claims. Although none of the adopted bills specifically mention the Catholic Church, archdioceses became the primary targets of litigation in each of the states that have passed them.

In California, one of the first to pass such legislation, more than 850 claims flooded courthouses during the one-year window that legislators opened, costing the church millions in damages and settlements.

Academic Support Technician (Regis University) | Work | Jobs in Denver

The Academic Support Technician provides technical support for the academic enterprise at all Regis University campus, provides proactive maintenance and assists in developing support policies and procedures to ensure proper working presentation technology remains available; uses broad technical know-how to service and support a wide range of technologies offer, in which it at that position to in-depth technical knowledge of complex audio, video and computer systems, documents proper equipment operation for users and keeps accurate inventory of equipment and spare parts, traveling to all Regis University Campus and offers help desk services on schedule. Experience in building, deploying and maintaining computer software images is a must.

Regis University, Dianne Primavera, Christine Scanlan, John Morse, Campbell Brown, Edwin Feulner, Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr. , Joseph Montoya

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