Crime or a sin

By Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. ( articles - email ) | Nov 12, 2003

From a report on the US bishops' meeting:

But the study that has the bishops most on edge is a survey by criminologists at John Jay College of all known allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests in the past 50 years. Bishops have expressed concern that false accusations would be lumped in with real ones, that no distinction would be made between sex crimes and conduct that was inappropriate but not illegal, and that the responses of 50 years ago would be judged by the standards of today. [Emphasis added]

Who cares about the distinction between what's a crime and what isn't? The fact is that they're all sins and that's what they should really be concerned about. Do you get the sense that some bishops don't have the call to holiness as their primary concern?

N.B. I do want to point out that no bishop is quoted as saying that, so it could be a reporters interpretation. But still it's not out of line with what I have seen bishops quoted as saying in the past.