On Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider S477, a bill sponsored by Senator Joe Vitale (D-19), which would eliminate the two-year statute of limitations in civil action sex abuse cases.

A Catholic tough guy Marine Corps veteran – still a public man of faith – pulled up alongside the senator in his car and said recently, “Let’s get those guys.”

The hard-core Catholics are the ones most vociferously supportive of the bill (For more, please take a look at what InsiderNJ columnist Tom Barrett wrote about it here).

They want the church saved – and purged – if need be.

Vitale’s been working the issue for over 20 years.

When he first arrived to the legislature in 1998, he met with Mark Crawford, director of SNAP, and eight years later, persuaded his colleagues to pass (by one vote in the Assembly) legislation that changed the charitable immunity law. Gross negligence used to be the standard, designed to protect charities from frivolous lawsuits. The new law changed the standard to “negligence” in sex abuse cases.

Now the second piece of what Vitale calls a broken law is poised for passage this week out of committee.

The law currently provides that personal injury suits must be commenced within two years of accrual of the cause of action, except for certain medical malpractice actions on behalf of minors.  Under Vitale’s bill, this two-year statute of limitations would be eliminated for actions brought under P.L.1992, c.109, s.1 (C.2A:61B-1) (sexual abuse of a child); paragraph (1) of subsection c. of P.L.1959, c.90, s.1 (C.2A:53A-7) (willful, wanton or grossly negligent act of commission or omission, including sexual assault or other crime of a sexual nature, brought against a trustee, director, officer, employee, agent, servant or volunteer of a nonprofit corporation, society or association organized exclusively for religious, charitable or educational purposes); and P.L.2005, c.264, s.1 (C.2A:53A-7.4) (sexual offense committed against a minor due to the negligent hiring, supervision or retention of an employee, agent or servant of a nonprofit corporation, society or association organized exclusively for religious, charitable, educational or hospital purposes).

The legislation doesn’t just target the Catholic Church, of course, although the church sex scandals have put the institution in a particularly negative light.

“My faith hasn’t changed,” said Vitale. “My belief hasn’t changed. This is about people in any walk of life who abuse children. It’s about the few bad people who work there. It’s not an attack on the religion. This is about deeply sick men.

“The churches of my district are still very strong,” added the veteran Woodbridge-based senator. “I live within half a mile of a core of strong, very well-attended churches. My district is very old school, blue collar, with strong church and civic organization. There’s a lot of life there. But the people are deeply disappointed. We all question how God could allow this to happen to children, but of course, it’s not God’s will.”

Vitale is confident he has the votes, both in committee and in the governing body as a whole. Several powerful entities oppose his bill, including the League of Municipalities, the Association of Counties, the Catholic Church, and the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute.

The church sent out a letter to parishioners in the last few days saying leadership supports bill but only in prospective, not retrospective cases, which Vitale argues amounts to lack of support.

“They’ve misrepresented my position,” he lamented.

But in the end, he insisted, he believes.

For more on the bill, please go here.