I don’t understand a good part of all this. It seems simple.

And, in a way, my heart goes out to the Roman Catholics. US society is just learning how to cope with this stuff, and no one handled it well 30 years ago. I suspect they were like me, couldn’t imagine it really did happen. I mean, kids? Really!!

And, child abuse is a CRIME. Needs to be reported to authorities.

If one is abused by a person who works for General Motors, they need to go to their local police or DA, not their local GM representative.

Second, the GM representative cannot hear a complaint and terminate a person. They could, and should, transfer them to safe duties or suspend them until there is resolution.

If one is abused by a teacher or coach, they need to go to the local police or DA, and secondarily the school.

There is a concept of innocent until proven guilty which should apply to the accused person, WHILE at the same time children are not allowed to come into professional contact with the accused.

I mean, if the guy coached a school or GM sponsored soccer team, the school or GM couldn’t fire him until resolution, but could, should and would relieve him of responsibilities with the team.

Next, the Roman Catholic Church is trying to say their priests are independent contractors, not employees, and they have some justification. The priests are usually financially independent of the larger church, and responsible to it only for matters of doctrine.

(Mr. Rogers was/is a Roman Catholic priest. He did not have a parish, lived much like anyone else. Didn’t get a paycheck, in fact turned money over to the Church. Would be hard to make the case he was an employee of anything but Mr. Rogers Productions, or whatever it was. I just used that as an example because most people know of him. He is NOT, repeat NOT to my knowledge accused of any inappropriate behavior.)

(Jerry Falwell is, I think, a Southern Baptist. If he were going to be defrocked, I think they would be the ones. And, he works for Thomas Road Baptist Church, and probably a lot of other legal entities. Don’t know that a tort by him would place a liability on the Southern Baptists.)

(My local Presbyterian minister works for his congregation, not the Presbyterians. The organization does facilitate employment finding, training, and whatever, but doesn’t employ the folks.)

It do look as if that Vatican rep is scrambling, though. I don’t understand their policies, why they are making any policies, or if they can, indeed, make any policies.

Child abuse is a CRIME. Let the authorities handle it. When the offender gets out of jail the Church can consider reassigning him. That “Registered Sex Offender” sign on the door might be a put-off, though.

Arf