Now that a new law in Maine has gone into effect, giving sexual abuse victims a chance to seek justice even if the statute of limitations had previously kept them out of courts, three men have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church.

The Maine law now allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to file a civil claim against their perpetrators, regardless of when the attack(s) occurred. A previous law from 2000 had eliminated the statute of limitations already, but it wasn’t retroactive, so abuse that occurred prior to 1987 couldn’t lead to charges. That’s relevant because many children who were abused by Catholic priests before that time, like so many other victims, don’t necessarily realize the impact of what they went through until much later in life. By the time they realize they were victims, it might be too late to sue their attackers. The new law is an attempt to rectify that.