Where the Rubber Hits the Road

From the National Law Review . Here's a snippet: The Catholic Church must deal with the recent, unfulfilled promise of Pope Benedict XVI that it will never again hide the sins of pastoral administrators. His admirable condemnation of past misconduct and his allusion to extending the statute of limitations for claims against offending priests are appropriate first steps. TWO NECESSARY CHANGES Without two changes in the Church's practices — its absolute rule about the pastoral privilege by which confidential confessions are invariably protected and its resort to confidentiality agreements in settling complaints of priests' misconduct — his admonitions will prove illusory. The Vatican's secrecy policies have impeded attempts to expose and punish wrongdoings by priests.... There are two secrecy problems that need to be addressed, and redressed. First, the confidentiality of the confessional, intrinsic to Church doctrine, while benign in most situations, als...