Clergy can be excused of their sins not their crimes

Recently, Nebraska’s Attorney General released a report from a three-year long investigation on sexual abuse in the state’s Catholic churches. The release noted 258 victims spanning from the 1930s to 2010s.  

Many of these cases, even had documentation of a parent or victim informing authority figures in the church. Some of the cases had members of the church claiming that the abuser was ‘sick’ and in some cases they were sent to some kind of treatment but often law enforcement was not informed.  

Although this is the current most prominent case, we see this in many religions around the U.S., a quick google search of any church and child sexual abuse will show results of cases and attorneys with almost every religion.  

Abuse can be seen in the Church of Latter-Day Saints Boy Scout cases, Protestant sexual abuse coverup cases and in the variety of religious cults with child marriages and molestation cases.  

An article written by Susan Raine and Stephen Kent titled “The grooming of children for sexual abuse in religious settings: Unique characteristics and select case studies” describes grooming practices that are found in various cases of religious sexual abuse of children. 

This includes how walk on water syndrome is found in many religious leaders.  

Nebraska is one of few states whose child abuse laws state that any person suspecting of child abuse are required to report it to law enforcement, however, this law does clash with the state’s clergy-penitent privilege law.  

The clergy-penitent privilege law states that anything confessed or spoken of with a religious official in confidentiality has to be reported.  

In my mind, the law translates to if a leader of a religious organization suspects that a child is being abused than they have to report it but when confessed to them, they are no longer obligated to report it. 

I understand religious exemptions and punishments for a variety of things. 

I understand that in many cases the crimes that might be confessed to a religious leader are more like cases of vandalism or other minor crimes.  

At what point do we draw the line on religious failure to report crimes of child abuse?

At what point do we hold churches and church leaders responsible for cases where child abuse was covered up or not reported to law enforcement?