Civil government applies to everyone equally. I was deeply shocked when it became apparent that the Roman Catholic bishops were routinely not reporting the sexual malfeasance of their priests to the governing authorities. Our system of laws does not exempt the religious from obeying our laws and remaining subject to the governing authorities. The God who establishes the church also establishes civil authority and government. No sphere is without God's involvement, although it is important to say that He is involved with the church in a different way than He deals with us through government in sphere of the this world. He uses laws which are universally applicable and are written on the human heart by Him in the civil realm and in the church He deals with us through the external Word of God in the holy gospel. The kind of message that the church proclaims and that the civil realm proclaims are vastly different. They are as different as law is from gospel.

When we transgress the civil law, we may not argue that we are children of God and are therefore exempt from civil law. For the same God who has made us His children in Christ, also rules the civil realm and makes us subject to the ruling authorities. Child molestation is certainly against the civil code and should be universally punished when it occurs among us. The bishops have no right as citizens to exempt their priests from this prohibition and the threat of punishment that impends over those who transgress this prohibition. Certainly, the bishops have the right to hear individual confession and to keep hidden those sins heard under the seal of the confessional, but this is not what we are talking about here. The bishops knew about these crimes outside of individual confession and absolution, and in many cases simply transferred such priests to other parishes.