Word that the FBI is investigating sex abuse in the Catholic church in New Orleans is welcome to survivors of past crimes.
The FBI is investigating to see if any clergy or other church officials violated the Mann Act -- a sex trafficking law that makes it a federal crime to take minors across state lines to have sex. It has no statute of limitations. Tim Lennon, past president of Louisiana's chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says that's important.
"The average age of a victim of child sex abuse coming forward is 52," Lennon said. "Memories of my sexual abuse and rape didn't emerge until I was 63."
Lennon says he hopes this investigation yields results that will bring closure to victims of sex abuse by priests, going back decades.
"I believe that the pursuit of justice is going to make the community safer, and that's what our concern is," he said. "We need to protect those that are vulnerable now, but we also need to provide support for those that have been harmed."
Lennon says many states need to reconsider not just criminal statutes of limitations, but civil ones as well.
