Churches Dispute Edict That Priests Don’t Have to Report Abuse

By Stephanie Bertholdo
Thousand Oaks Acorn
February 18, 2016

http://www.toacorn.com/news/2016-02-18/Faith/Churches_dispute_edict_that_priests_dont_have_to_r.html

News reports claiming that new Vatican guidelines excluding bishops from being liable for reporting clerical child abuse cases to the police are being refuted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and by some local churches.

According to recent media reports French monsignor Tony Anatrella told newly appointed bishops that they are not required to report abuse to law officials.

The duty, he said, is the responsibility of the victims and their families. Anatrella’s comments were reported in Catholic news sites and magazines, including Newsweek.

However, not every Catholic district agrees.

Adrian Marquez Alarcon, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said the Archdiocese “has a zero tolerance policy and reports incidents of abuse, whether by clergy, staff, volunteers or others to law enforcement and collaborates actively with law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute abuse.”

Father Michael Rocha, the pastor at St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church, said he had not heard about any so-called new guidelines that would bypass police involvement.

“This is not true,” he said.

All priests, Rocha said, are “mandatory reporters” of child abuse. However, Rocha would be obliged to first report any incidents of abuse to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“If a case came to me I must report it to the Archdiocese for investigation,” Rocha said. “I would certainly advise the victim, or their family, to contact the police. The Archdiocese . . . has an outreach to those who claim to have been abused by priests in the past. Any new cases are dealt with completely different than in the past.”

Today, when a priest is reported of criminal behavior, he is immediately removed from his duties until the case is fully investigated, Rocha said.

“Law enforcement gets involved as well,” he said.

All Catholic parishes are under the leadership of the Archbishop, Rocha said, adding that strong directives regarding the protection of children have existed for many years.

[Archdiocese website, http:]

The first sentence outlines how any abuse is reported to law enforcement.

Apparently, the Vatican is taking issue with Anatrella’s comments as well. Reports say that the comments made by Anatrella were his sole opinion and in no way was an edict from the Vatican.

In trying to make sense of the jumbled information about guidelines in sexual abuse cases, Rocha said, “The only thing I would say is that the (clergy child abuse) scandal hit Europe later that the United States and they were slower to react than we were. Regardless—the abuse should never have happened.”

For further information, contact Joan Vienna, director of “Safeguard the Children,” a division of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, at (213) 637-7227.