Child abuse: a secular or religious crime?

by Madeleine Kando

Ever since the French and American Revolutions, a cornerstone of modern Western society's legal and political system has been the separation of Church and State. Only ONE law applies to ALL citizens: The civil-criminal law of the STATE. Before that, until a couple of hundred years ago, there were TWO parallel and competing legal systems - that of the secular authorities, and ecclesiastical law (Canon Law).

These are some questions I have been asking myself:
If a bishop becomes aware of a priest or other bishop molesting a child: does he report it to the church or to the police?
If he reports it to the church: does the church have a duty to notify civil authorities?
If the bishop does not report it (to either the church or the police): is he charged with a crime himself?
If a child is abused by a priest and reports the crime to the priest’s boss (the bishop): does the bishop have a duty to report it to HIS boss (the Pope I guess)
If the Pope doesn’t report it to the police, should he not get punished himself?

What are the legal obligations to report to the authorities a crime known to you? I am not a legal expert, and this is a murky area. But certainly, there are circumstances under which failing to report a crime known to you makes you an accomplice, subject to criminal prosecution.

What I am reacting to, is the curious position of the Church. The Church seems to feel that this is still the 12th or the 17th century, when Ecclesiastic law was as valid as the laws of the state. That the Church can handle the crimes committed by some of its members IN HOUSE.

You see, this is what I cannot figure out: We live in a civilized society where the rule of law is supposed to be sacrosanct. That’s why we gasp when we hear stories of family members not being charged with murder when they stone an unfaithful wife to death in some remote barbaric Muslim country that is ruled by SHARIA LAW.

Now: what exactly is the difference between that and our society condoning the protection by canon law of pedophile priests or bishops or Popes ? It seems weird to me that the church's efforts to handle these crimes in-house are not unanimously condemned. It is as if employees of the Bank of America had committed some crimes, then their supervisors found out about these crimes, and only reported them to the CEO, thinking that this was their only legal (and moral) obligation.

But it is my understanding that in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is no legal difference between the Bank of America and the Catholic Church: When their employees commit crimes, they must undergo punishment at the hands of the State. Not in-house.

I read up a little bit on what the punishment is under CANON LAW for priests who molest children. They get removed from the priesthood (sometimes permanently). You see, they don’t lose their freedom and get put in jail. They are not prevented from working as teachers in secular schools where they can go on molesting children. They just loose their job. That is what CANON LAW has to say about punishment for child molestation.

Maybe that is why there are so many priests who abuse children. The punishment under canon law is really not so bad for a child molester. They just get defrocked. It sure beats spending time in a tiny prison cell. leave comment here