The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law CUA Law Scholarship Repository Scholarly Articles and Other Contributions Faculty Scholarship 2020 Church and State and Child Endangerment Raymond C. O'Brien The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/scholar Part of the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Raymond C. O'Brien, Church and State and Child Endangerment, 56 Crim. L. Bull. 601 (2020). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Articles and Other Contributions by an authorized administrator of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Church and State and Child Endangerment Raymond C. O’Brien* ABSTRACT As media in the United States revealed the number of minors sexually abused by clergy, the gravity of the offenses, and the in- ability to prosecute the offenders, a second offense was revealed. Gradually it was illustrated that bishops and their diocesan administrators knew of credible sexual crimes against children com- mitted by clergy and they responded by protecting offenders, ignor- ing victims, and knowingly reassigning credibly accused clergy to other placements where they could endanger additional minors. In response to these developments the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published policies to protect children, enacted norms to be followed in each diocese, made repeated statements that apologized for grave errors, and worked with victims and independent audits to review continuing efforts to comply with secular civil laws.