Topeka woman fights for mandated Clergy reporting
TOPEKA (KSNT) – A bill in the Kansas House of Representatives that would add Clergy to the list of mandated reporters for certain abuse against children is still alive with an exemption from ‘Turnaround Day.’
House Bill 2300 could still get a hearing at any time this session. This exemption is pushing one Joe Cheray, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, to advocate even harder.
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“I have been at the statehouse every Tuesday and Thursday for, now going on almost three months trying to raise public awareness,” Cheray said.
She tells 27 News that adding Clergy to the list of mandated reporters would give survivors and law enforcement another angle to justice.
“They would join the list of 13 other agencies and professions that are required to report,” Cheray said. “So, it would give the KBI one more avenue for evidence collection.”
The bill outlines that it would not break the seal of confession in the Catholic Church. A spokesman for the Kansas Catholic Conference says it’s never opposed its clergy from being mandated reporters, but believes the seal of confession should not be broken.
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“Case law going back centuries has always supported that what you say in the confessional, or what you say to a duly ordained minister that you expect to stay private should remain private,” Executive Director of the Kansas Catholic Conference Chuck Weber said. “And, so the Catholic Church would certainly want to protect that.”
Weber also says any Clergyman or woman appointed to work with children goes through rigorous training to ensure their safety.
“The priests and the deacons are already trained as a condition of their employment to recognize abuse and report it, so we’re already doing this,” Weber said. “We have no problems with this bill and anything we can do to keep our kids safe, we want to get on board with that.”
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