Lawsuit Against the Church — Implications

Full disclosure: in my state I am a mandated reporter and I work for an agency that investigates child abuse (although I am not involved in the reporting or investigation process). Further,I am an advocate of ending child abuse and mostly believe abusers (physical or sexual) should be locked up for the rest of their lives.

Yes, this article triggered me.

I believe the counselor in the bishopric who was a mandated reporter did the right thing. And I think this mother is a nut.

I think clergy should be mandated reporters and I disagree with the Catholic church policies which prevent them from reporting criminal activity during a confession. Why do you think abuse was so rampant in the Catholic Church to begin with? I’m sure some of them did cover it up because they wanted to but they also covered it up because they had to.

The man probably wold not have confessed if he thought he was going to be turned in. Then the authorities would eventually have found out some other way but that may have been a long time and his victims would have continued to suffer at his hands (as if they won’t suffer for the rest of their lives anyway).

As I’ve calmed down and thought about this a bit more, it seems to me the woman is trying to blame the church for something her husband did. The church didn’t abuse the kid(s), the man did. The church isn’t responsible for the loss of income, family relationships, etc., the man is.

Of course the other elephant in the room is the idea that the church has hundreds of billions of dollars and why not take the opportunity to try to get them to share some of that with you?

To the mandated reporter issue, and I know it’s different by state, but if I am aware of abuse (or even the suspicion of abuse) and I fail to report it I lose my job AND my licensure – thus my livelihood.

Any entity with money is going to be sued on a regular basis. In general most are just looking for some kind of settlement to alter their financial situation, not necessarily looking for justice. I look at most lawsuits like that. The issue at hand is about money not responsibilty.

I agree that this is probably the case here. I get it, this family lost their breadwinner and now also faces all the challenges of being in a single parent family. But that didn’t just “happen,” it’s a consequence as part of something the church really had nothing to do with.

Not to get too detailed here, but about 15 years ago a family in our ward suffered a similar incident. The father was arrested and sentenced for production and possession of child porn. (The church was not involved until after.) The wife was left with three children and no real job skill (and no education). She got a job and has moved up a bit into management and has received church welfare assistance. You gotta do what you gotta do.

I thought that the priest-penitent confidentiality did not apply to Mormon bishops because they are not professional clergy.

Does it apply to Mormon bishops in some states but not others?

I think it really is all dependent on the state. I also think that’s why the church wants bishops (and other leaders) to call the legal office in SLC because they at least should be up-to-date on each state’s laws. I do not believe they routinely advise people not to report and that they are not lying when they say that they will deal with abuse (IOW, I don’t think that’s lip service).

I am sorry for the wife. This has to be humiliating and embarrassing. And any financial loss just adds to it. This means the mans choices not only affected his victims, but created more victims.

I also seriously applaud the church on this. This isn’t the first case of sexual misconduct by a church member/leader. As an institution, those have not always been handled wisely. Some are still being processed and pursued. All of them are ugly and damaging no matter how you look at them. That someone took this case this direction is very hopeful. Maybe as an institution wise decisions about all cases like these will prevail.

If I were a mandated reporter, I would let my priesthood leaders know this and would likely not want to be part of proceedings that expose me to the need to report mandatorily. Particularly if priesthood leaders had promised confidentiality — which they sometimes do, by the way.

I have done that in the past and my current leadership also knows. There are many mandated reporters in this state, including anyone who works in a school or medical setting. This includes people like receptionists, lunch ladies and janitors. Lots of callings are held by such people. It’s pretty unlikely one of us does not become aware. That, said I’m also reasonably sure none of our local leaders would make any promise of confidentiality in a case of abuse. It’s a new world, not just a new church. In the not so old days it wasn’t all that unusual for a superintendent or principal to quietly ask a teacher to resign when caught having a student affair. Now if they don’t call law enforcement (and the abuse hotline) they lose their jobs and licenses.

I’m getting triggered again so I’m going to stop with this, but there is NO excuse for covering up abuse.

Just for the record, I’m not advocating covering up abuse. But I am advocating, at least from my preliminary musings, letting priesthood leaders know that I am a mandatory reporter and what is at stake if I know about reportable incidents. I also would want to know my legal status before the law on all such matters even if not a mandatory reporter in my work.

There was a case a while ago where a Mormon Bishop was brought up on charges because he advised a youth or someone not to report a case of sexual abuse to authorities or something similar. I don’t quite remember the details of the situation, but the Bishop was considered to have tampered with a witness. I am not sure how it was resolved, but to me it underscored the plight of a non-professional, volunteer clergy. You might find yourself in circumstances for which you are poorly trained and don’t have the full perspective or experience or training to deal with such matters in a way that is compliant with the law.

It’s one reason I am glad my less active behavior has probably excluded me from church leadership for life.