I simply have to disagree with you.
The church should direct any complaints to the authorities. If it is a false claim, the police will ferret that out pretty quickly—if the complainant even goes to the police.
I think there is an assumption among the devout that this is some conspiracy against THEM and their faith. It is not. There are a lot of people on FR that WANT to believe that this is false and that these priests are no worse than any other “population.”
That kind of thinking is delusional.
In my opinion, the best solution is to come out and say that the church will no longer entertain claims without a valid police report. They should also say that they will cooperate fully with the police. They should not pay claims that are outside the statute of limitations as those people have had plenty of time to come forward.
Direct statements that acknowledge the sin, and take steps to mitigate future damage—at the same time declaring an end to the “settlements” that have not come as the result of a conviction would go a long way to regaining public trust.
The pussy-footing around that the church is doing is simply not effective and not helping their message at all.
Well, we can both agree that the current way they’re dealing with it isn’t working at ALL.
Does this apply to any country? Where do you see in Scripture that the state is to be relied upon first to judge moral matters occurring in church services by members? Does your position apply to any country?
There are a lot of people on FR that WANT to believe that this is false and that these priests are no worse than any other “population.”
Its bad and deplorable, however, the little reported sad reality is that sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/has-media-ignored-sex-abuse-in-school/ Forgotten Study: Abuse in School 100 Times Worse than by Priests .