Oregon Woman sues Church for reporting abuse


MrShorty
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Guest MormonGator
2 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Yeah, I wan to be careful not to make over-generalizations; but my understanding was that there was also a sort of pervasive attitude of “the church and its agents are a sovereign entity answerable only to the Vatican and not foreign governments and so we don’t have to buy play by your rules” that complicated things.  :(  

Agree, that was part of it. 

The effects of the scandal are devastating to the church. Look what happened in Ireland. Yes, I know there are a lot of reasons-and the priest sex abuse scandal is right up there. 

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On 1/14/2020 at 4:58 PM, MrShorty said:

Interestingly, the article mentioned a bill going before the Utah legislature that would essentially remove the clergy-confession privilege in the state of Utah -- making all clergy mandatory reporters even if they learn of the abuse as part of "confession" (there is a link within my link that goes to the Tribune's coverage of this bill, if you feel so inclined). It looks like the Utah state legislature will get an opportunity to debate the issues you mention.

Just by way of information, some time last year, one of the states in Australia passed legislation removing the protection of the confession. Leading Catholic bishops in that state have said they will not comply with that legislation. I believe that another state is now preparing similar legislation. 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/priests-to-report-confessed-sex-abuse-under-new-laws/news-story/692361e008269272ce4b175609db739f

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Guest MormonGator
6 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

Just by way of information, some time last year, one of the states in Australia passed legislation removing the protection of the confession. Leading Catholic bishops in that state have said they will not comply with that legislation. I believe that another state is now preparing similar legislation. 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/priests-to-report-confessed-sex-abuse-under-new-laws/news-story/692361e008269272ce4b175609db739f

Combine this with the Cardinal Pell craziness going on and I'm surprised the Catholic church even exists down under anymore. 

I'm against laws like-I hate seeing the government gain this much control over churches-but the Catholic church made their bed. 

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@askandanswer I have heard of some of the turmoil down in Australia over this and was somewhat aware of the opposition of the Catholic Church to these statutes in Australia. As part of this issue here in the states, I have also become aware of the Catholic Church's opposition to similar bills here in the states -- most recently this one in the Deseret News about the bill that may come before the Utah legislature later this month: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/14/21065579/utah-bill-clergy-report-child-abuse-confessions-house-speaker-catholic-church-mormon-lds-diocese

I do not claim any expertise in Catholic Canon law or how it intersects with secular law. From what I can tell, there could be some issues here -- some issues related to religious freedom, to mandatory reporting, to the safety and welfare of victims of assault/abuse, and others.

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On 1/15/2020 at 10:20 PM, MormonGator said:

Combine this with the Cardinal Pell craziness going on and I'm surprised the Catholic church even exists down under anymore. 

I'm against laws like-I hate seeing the government gain this much control over churches-but the Catholic church made their bed. 

It always makes me go hmmm when people believe that a government (especially not a US one) can adjudicate injustices better than Canon law just because some priests failed in their adjudication of Canon law.  May I remind everyone that Epstein didn't kill himself and THAT's even in US prisons, how much more in governments without the protection of the US Constitution.

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