Lawmakers on Tuesday moved closer to adding priests and other clergy to Vermont’s 22-year-old list of people required to report suspicions of child abuse to civil authorities.
Shortly after the House Judiciary Committee granted an 11-0 nod to a mandatory reporting requirement for clergy, the full Senate unanimously gave its preliminary approval to a similar measure. The votes capped weeks of often emotional and tearful testimony from prosecutors, legal experts, religious leaders and abuse victims.
While the bills differ slightly in their language and penalties for noncompliance, both exempt clergy from reporting suspicions of abuse that come to light during a confession or other similar exchange between a person and a religious representative. Such an exemption is granted in all but 10 of the states that require clergy to tell police or social services agencies that they have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused or neglected.
Requiring clergy to join a list that already includes doctors, nurses, surgeons, physician’s assistants, medical examiners, dentists, teachers, school superintendents, daycare workers librarians, police officers and camp counselors marks the end of a very sad story, and a very sad day, said Sen. James Leddy, D-Chittenden. The chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and one of the sponsors of the legislation, Leddy said he never thought there would be a need for this bill until reports of child sexual abuse and cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church surfaced over the last two years.
Those that are charged with the spiritual values of our lives should not only teach us those values, but they should do nothing to harm our children, either directly or through omission, he said on the Senate floor before he and his colleagues preliminarily approved the bill. It’s been sad and painful, and none of us ever wants to see that happen again. We want to make sure our children are protected and provide a safe haven and safe harbor for our children in our homes, in our schools and in our churches.
That was the aim of the House Judiciary Committee as well. In language inserted Tuesday morning, the committee made clear its intent to add clergy to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect while balancing the state’s compelling interest in protecting child safety with the important role of religious and spiritual conscience in our society.
The committee which has wrestled with the meaning of clergy, abuse and confession for almost three weeks decided Tuesday to approve its bill but wait until the Senate measure reaches it before moving it to the House floor. The committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Margaret Flory, R-Pittsford, said such a maneuver would make ironing out differences between the two versions more efficient.
Unlike the Senate measure, the House bill calls for increasing the $500 fine for failing to report to $1,000 and up to six months in prison if there is an intent to conceal child abuse or neglect. Additionally, the House measure offers more detail of when clergy can refuse to disclose abuse.
Both measures call for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to develop standard reporting, information, education and training protocols. The law would take effect immediately after it is signed by the governor.
The concept of adding clergy to the list of mandatory reporters has garnered the support of many religious leaders, including Vermont’s Roman Catholic bishop, who testified earlier this month that an exemption for information learned in confession was essential.
The exemption was drawn broadly, to include confession-like communications in non-Catholic and non-Christian faiths.