The settlement of the Santa Barbara Franciscan sexual abuse case brings up the idea of restorative justice. The underlying issue of many high profile court cases is that there’s no amount of money that would render justice. Moreover, the problem has been exacerbated by lawyers functioning in gameplan mentality who advise their clients to make no apologies and to smear and abuse the victim further just so they can get away with the initial wrongdoing. If the victim makes it through the years of litigation, they may only receive some sort of compensation for the complaint - there’s no compensation for the burden and trauma of the litigation itself.

The court system in the U.S. has been broken for a long time. While Supreme Court Justices have the standing to make threats to their job and well-being pubic knowledge, it’s easy to forget that regular people who are abused by bad judges have no voice. Unfortunately, the politicians who should be championing their constituents usually only go after judges when it serves their political agenda.

For all the other problems that plague the Catholic hierarchy, I think they’re on the right track by promoting the idea of restorative justice. It’s an important first step to talk about justice and try to figure out what it looks like in this day and age. Until we start talking about justice and how it applies equally to every citizen, the court system will remain in the hands of the game-players and the politicians, and the most vulnerable people in our society will continue to suffer in a world outside justice, where anything can be done to them at any time.