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“Command And Coercion”: Clerical Immunity, Scandal, And The Sex Abuse Crisis In The Roman Catholic Church, John F. Wirenius

John F. Wirenius

The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has occasioned much scandal, but also much confusion, as trusted institutions and individuals seem to be willfully thwarting criminal investigation and prosecution of terrible crimes. This Article looks at the historical and theological underpinnings of the belief in clerical immunity from secular law, its role in the response to allegations of sexual abuse by clergy, and at the modern effort to engraft clerical immunity into the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause under the “Church Autonomy” doctrine.