{"id":343,"date":"2011-01-20T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html"},"modified":"2011-01-20T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T12:07:00","slug":"vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html","title":{"rendered":"Vatican&#8217;s 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The blogosphere has erupted over whether <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/world\/europe\/the-1997-letter-vatican-message-sent-to-irish-church\/article1874546\/\">this newly revealed 1997 letter<\/a> from a senior Vatican official&nbsp;to Irish bishops constitutes a &#8220;smoking gun,&#8221; because it expresses concerns about a proposed&nbsp;mandatory reporting&nbsp;policy &#8212; now implemented &#8212; of abuse cases to secular authorities.<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, it sure doesn&#8217;t look good &#8212; at the very least, it&#8217;s &#8220;<u><font color=\"#0066cc\">certainly a public relations embarassment,&#8221;<\/font><\/u> according to National Catholic Reporter&#8217;s&nbsp;John L. Allen Jr.. On the other hand, as Allen and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.getreligion.org\/2011\/01\/a-vatican-smoking-gun\/\">GetReligion&#8217;s analysis<\/a>&nbsp;explain, it&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/vatican-warned-bishops-not-to-report-child-abuse\">not really anything new <\/a>or surprising, either.<\/p>\n<p>Some links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/01\/19\/world\/europe\/19vatican.html\">Vatican letter warned bishops on abuse policy <\/a>(NYT)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20110119\/ap_on_re_eu\/eu_ireland_catholic_abuse\">Vatican: 1997 Irish abuse letter &#8220;misunderstood&#8221;<\/a> (AP)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/letter-from-1997-shows-vatican-concern-to-ensure-abuse-verdicts-officials-say\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed:+catholicnewsagency\/dailynews+(CNA+Daily+News)\">Letter from 1997 shows Vatican concern to ensure abuse verdicts, officials say <\/a>(Catholic News Agency)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.politicsdaily.com\/2011\/01\/19\/vatican-letter-to-irish-bishops-on-sex-abuse-a-smoking-gun-in\/\">Vatican letter to Irish bishops: A &#8220;smoking gun&#8221; in conspiracy? <\/a>(PoliticsDaily)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Meanwhile, clergy abuse victim advocates&nbsp;have been stepping up their efforts, with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/religion\/2011-01-20-sex-abuse-priests-named-20_ST_N.htm?csp=34&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed:+Religion-TopStories+(News+-+Religion+-+Top+Stories)\">attorney Mitchell Garabedeian releasing a list of accused abusers in the Boston Archdiocese&nbsp;<\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/newspaper\/ireland\/2011\/0112\/1224287331281.html\">attorney Jeff Anderson opening a European branch of his law firm to aid in going after accused abusers in Ireland <\/a>and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">*<a href=\"http:\/\/feedburner.google.com\/fb\/a\/mailverify?uri=beliefnet\/beliefbeat\">Click here to<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><strong>subscribe to Belief Beat<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/a>and<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/beliefbeat\">click here to<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><strong>follow Belief Beat on Twitter.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The blogosphere has erupted over whether this newly revealed 1997 letter from a senior Vatican official&nbsp;to Irish bishops constitutes a &#8220;smoking gun,&#8221; because it expresses concerns about a proposed&nbsp;mandatory reporting&nbsp;policy &#8212; now implemented &#8212; of abuse cases to secular authorities. On the one hand, it sure doesn&#8217;t look good &#8212; at the very least, it&#8217;s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vatican&#039;s 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match? - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vatican&#039;s 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match? - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The blogosphere has erupted over whether this newly revealed 1997 letter from a senior Vatican official&nbsp;to Irish bishops constitutes a &#8220;smoking gun,&#8221; because it expresses concerns about a proposed&nbsp;mandatory reporting&nbsp;policy &#8212; now implemented &#8212; of abuse cases to secular authorities. On the one hand, it sure doesn&#8217;t look good &#8212; at the very least, it&#8217;s&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-20T12:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Neroulias\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vatican's 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match? - Belief Beat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vatican's 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match? - Belief Beat","og_description":"The blogosphere has erupted over whether this newly revealed 1997 letter from a senior Vatican official&nbsp;to Irish bishops constitutes a &#8220;smoking gun,&#8221; because it expresses concerns about a proposed&nbsp;mandatory reporting&nbsp;policy &#8212; now implemented &#8212; of abuse cases to secular authorities. On the one hand, it sure doesn&#8217;t look good &#8212; at the very least, it&#8217;s&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html","og_site_name":"Belief Beat","article_published_time":"2011-01-20T12:07:00+00:00","author":"Nicole Neroulias","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html","name":"Vatican's 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match? - Belief Beat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-20T12:07:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-20T12:07:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/#\/schema\/person\/42dac2ebd149a02dfe91f0f93e36761b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/01\/vaticans-1997-letter-on-clergy-abuse-smoking-gun-or-soggy-match.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vatican&#8217;s 1997 Letter on Clergy Abuse: Smoking Gun or Soggy Match?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/","name":"Belief Beat","description":"BeliefBeat - Nicole Neroulias","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/#\/schema\/person\/42dac2ebd149a02dfe91f0f93e36761b","name":"Nicole Neroulias","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/caf\/caf1ad99f5fc2a063b8e935cf82f65fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/caf\/caf1ad99f5fc2a063b8e935cf82f65fdx96.jpg","caption":"Nicole Neroulias"},"description":"Nicole Neroulias is a correspondent for Religion News Service, a secular news and photo service devoted to unbiased coverage of religion and ethics. 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