What is canon law?
Until merely 300 years ago, canon law was the primary authority in marriage, family and business life in the Western world, says Blakey. But even if 21st-century U.S. civil law is a micro-thin layer in history, the bishops must heed it as well as the law of the church. “If a parish priest looks to God for God’s law, to the church for canon law and to the civil society for civil law, he may well have conflicting duties. We have an enormous cultural and legal gap between U.S. society and the church culture,” says Blakey. Some call for a “one strike and you’re out” policy, booting any priest who abuses a minor. But what’s a “strike”? No one knows. “Everyone agrees rape is out. Touch a naked child and you’re out. But what about a priest who touches a boy once, outside of his clothes, on the outside of his thigh? What about a lingering hug during the Mass or looking at adult porn on the Internet?” asks Schiltz. When he was in private practice, Schiltz represented hundreds of churches facing
