Henshaw: Clergy sex abuse report makes for interesting legal debate

By Steven Henshaw
Reading Eagle
July 20, 2018

http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/henshaw-clergy-sex-abuse-report-makes-for-interesting-legal-debate

There are valid issues from those objecting to its release.

All through my junior/senior high school and college years, I enjoyed those classes taught by instructors who would deviate from the lesson plan to discuss a topic in the news.

Not everyone appreciates this. Those in that camp probably choose other lines of work and don't go into journalism, law and politics.

It's too bad law schools are on summer break. A grand jury's much-anticipated report on clergy abuse in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, including the Allentown Diocese covering Berks and Schuylkill counties, would serve as a fascinating topic to dissect. The issue encompasses such legal principles as privacy, defamation, due process and constitutionality.

I've been following the latest developments with great interest, even before I received a letter in my email inbox from Bishop Alfred A. Schlert. In it, the leader of the Allentown Diocese asserted the diocese has "done absolutely nothing to delay or block the Report, or to support anyone who is trying to do so."

So if it isn't the Catholic Church, just who is to blame for the delay of the report's release?

Recent newspaper articles indicate it is individuals, not institutions, including present and past clergy.

Though the individuals are identified in the filings only by their initials, they pose some arguments that make good debate fodder in law classes.

Most of the petitioners are saying the report defames them by making false allegations. They also say it shouldn't be released because they were denied an opportunity to defend themselves in court.

At least one petitioner challenges the very legitimacy of Attorney General Josh Shapiro's statewide grand jury, saying it goes beyond the purpose authorized by the Investigating Grand Jury Act, and deprives people of their due process rights.

I see some merit in that argument. Some administrators reportedly named in the report cannot be held criminally responsible under current child-abuse reporting laws, and some of the alleged abusers are dead.

So what essentially the state's highest court has to consider is whether the grand jury report amounts to a gratuitous release of alleged abuse while running roughshod over an individual's rights to due process.

A debate, indeed, for scholars of law.