House bill would require clergy to report sexual abuse
The Illinois House passed a bill Thursday that would require clergy to report allegations of sexual abuse against children.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Eileen Lyons, R-Western Springs, applies to any clergyperson who, through his or her professional religious duties, has reasonable cause to suspect a child is being sexually abused. The report would have to be made to the Department of Children and Family Services.
The bill is in response to the rash of Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors, and their superiors in the church concealing their histories, Lyons said.
"It is aimed at those (clergy) who would be more concerned with protecting their image and protecting their own than about victims," Lyons said of the bill. "They have learned about (charges of abuse) through victims, and they cover it up."
Some lawmakers expressed concern that a provision of the bill meant to preserve the confidentiality of the Catholic sacrament of confession was too vague and open to loopholes.
The bill exempts clergy from reporting the charges if they claim the privilege of receiving the information "through confession or in their professional capacity as spiritual advisers," Lyons said.
Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, said he did not understand how far "professional capacity as spiritual advisers" could be interpreted to reach.
"We definitely have the information that is disclosed within the confessional that is excluded," Lang said. "And then we have this other area as well that is a little more nebulous."
Lyons said the professional-capacity clause is only intended to exempt a disclosure made by the perpetrator of the abuse, not the victim. Lang said the bill's language makes no such distinction.
Lyons said most of the recent cases of concealed abuse allegations stemmed from victims or their families.
"These cases are reported not in the confession, not in the light of a spiritual adviser," Lyons said, "but in a reporting attitude, sometimes with a lawyer on hand.
"We can't cover everybody in this bill. It does not get everybody, but I think it does address a major problem."
Lang voted for the bill, saying: "I'm not sure it addresses the specific issue. I'm hoping that you won't let it end here and that we'll look for better language as we go forward."
"Although the bill is not quite as strong as I'd like it to be, I think it makes a clear-cut statement that clergy should be mandatory reporters," said Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, R-Des Plaines. "Many people are mandatory reporters now: teachers, doctors, social workers."
The charge of failing to report abuse is now a misdemeanor. The bill would raise second or subsequent offenses to a Class 4 felony, carrying a one- to three-year prison sentence.
House Bill 5002 passed without opposition, 114-0, and now goes to Gov. George Ryan.
Jeff Druchniak can be reached at 544-2819 or [email protected].
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