Is the Catholic Church about to meet its Waterloo?

Above: The coat of arms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth, where there is some concern about a recent High Court ruling

I imagine that my schoolfriend Harry whom I mention at http://millstonesblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/seeing-brothers-in-court.html will be even keener since the announcement, two days after he contacted me, of a landmark decision by the judge involved in the above High Court case.

Mr Justice Alistair MacDuff's ruling, in what has become known as the 'Baldwin case', that Roman Catholic priests are equivalent to employees has made headlines in the world press.

The case involved a 47-year-old woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the Rev. Wilfred Baldwin when she was living in a Catholic children's home, The Firs, in Waterlooville, Hampshire. She was pursuing a claim for damages against the Catholic Church. Fr Baldwin died in 2006.

The Church has always argued that it is not "vicariously liable" for the actions of priests. In a three-day hearing in July before the judge, it argued that priests are not employees. It claimed there was no contract of employment, that priests paid self-employed taxes and that the positions were never advertised.

This was the first time the argument had been heard in open court. On Tuesday 8 November 2011 Mr Justice MacDuff rejected it. In his ruling he said that Father Wilfred Baldwin, who is accused of abuse, was appointed "by and on behalf of the defendants", the Portsmouth diocese. "He was so appointed in order to do their work, to undertake the ministry on behalf of the defendants to fulfil that role... He was directed into the community with that full authority and was given free reign to act as representative of the church," the ruling read. "He had immense power handed to him by the defendants. It was they who appointed him to the position of trust which (if the allegations be proved) he so abused."

The decision has been welcomed by those who believe that it could pave the way for victims of sexual abuse to win damages from the Church.

The Diocese of Portsmouth has issued a statement on its website at http://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/docs/The-Diocese-Fr-Wilf-Baldwin.pdf
Bishop Crispian Hollis gives, as its primary reason for refuting the claimant's allegations, the assertion that at the time she was resident at The Firs, "Fr Baldwin was based at the other end of the Diocese and had no connection with the children’s home." It is naturally hoping to appeal against the ruling.