News Conference: Tim’s Statement
The following statement was delivered at the CFCtoo news conference on October 21, 2022.
My name is Tim Vollmer, I’m the Democratic and Moderate candidate for District 11 of the St Lawrence County Legislature, comprised of the town of Stockholm and sections of the town and village of Potsdam. I want to thank CFCtoo for holding this press conference and for the opportunity to speak in support of the CARE Act.
I want to start by saying that I wholeheartedly support this bill, and I’ve been happy to see that a strong majority of the public also supports this bill. What criticism I have seen for this bill has largely based on a misunderstanding of the bill itself, specifically around the subject of confession. I grew up in and was confirmed in the United Methodist Church, so the church I attended did not have confession, but many of my friends and family are Catholics and I fully understand the importance and significance of confession in the Catholic faith. I understand why some Catholics would feel conflicted about a bill that would require the clergy to report information obtained during confession. But this bill does not do that.
This bill does not require clergy to report information reported to them during their duties as a faith leader. It would require them to be mandatory reporters for the same reasons that teachers, day care workers, doctors, and nurses are already mandatory reporters: because they are the trusted authority figures an abused child may rely on for help. Most abuse comes from inside of a child’s own family, and in organizations like the CFC where homeschooling is common, a clergy member may be the only authority figure a child has access to. If that clergy member chooses to protect the abuser or the reputation of their church over protecting the child, that child may have no other place to turn.
Some have also claimed that if the abuser is repentant the church can handle the issue internally, but this is no more true for abuse than it is for any other crime. If you or a loved one was a victim of assault, robbery, or hit by a drunk driver, spiritual repentance would be no more justice for you than it is for the victims of abuse. Repentance may be an important step towards rehabilitation towards some, but it is not a replacement for the criminal justice system.
I’d like to thank the members of CFCtoo for doing not only the important work of championing this bill, for supporting the victims of abuse, and showing those stuck inside of abusive families that there is an outside community waiting for them that is supportive and nurturing and ready to welcome them.
