BishopAccountability.org
	Editorial: Now Give US Laws That Put Children First The Herald July 14, 2011 http://www.herald.ie/opinion/editorial-now-give-us-laws-that-put-children-first-2821749.html Laws compelling adults to report child sex abuse are long overdue. We do not need any more reports of abuse to convince us of the urgency. We have known horrific details of clerical child sex abuse for more than a decade. The fact that it was still being covered up by Church authorities and senior gardai as recently as 2009 is truly appalling Jailing priests who fail to report abuse -- even when they are told in the confessional -- may cause conflict with Church rules but the Church has failed children who should always have been protected. Mandatory reporting may also cause difficulty for doctors and lawyers as a breach of confidentiality but once again the needs of the children and the vulnerable must come first. This hurt, abuse and destruction of innocent children's lives cannot be allowed to continue. We need the toughest penalties and we need them immediately.
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