Canon Law deals with the internal governance of the Church. It is very technical, and sometimes hard to interpret. It is a separate law unto itself spanning a global Church. As quoted in the article, "If civil law requires you report, you must obey civil law," Monsignor Charles Scicluna told reporters. But "it's not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law."
All individuals within the Church, whether lay or clergy or Bishop, are required to follow local law, including mandatory reporter laws. In my parish, there are signs posted on every bulletin board stating all careers which qualify as mandatory reporters in our state, which includes clergy, and teachers. As Canon Law articulates the crimes and systems of dealing with them against the Church and the Sacraments, it is beyond the scope of Canon Law to address civil penalties. A case can be tried jointly through civil and Canon courts.
It does become tricky if an abuse situation comes to light only within the Sacrament of confession. The bond of the Sacrament is one of the highest held within the Church, but it is the priest hearing the confession who is bound, not the person making the confession. Victims need to know that they need to report crimes to civil authority, and our education systems in our parish make this clear, as I have heard from parishes around the country likewise have put into place very clear guidelines for reporting abuse.
As the Church sees it, the primary purpose of her ministry is the care of each soul. In an abuse situation, she cares not only for the victims' souls, but the perpetrator as well. The Church does not see with eyes only tied to this current world, but also towards eternity, and she is not willing that any should be easily lost. So when establishing guidelines, she is not simply addressing how to punish evil, but also how to redeem the lost. I understand how caring for the soul of the perpetrator as well as the victim seems to raise the Church's esteem of the individual above what they deserve, but it is in keeping with the Gospel, to which we believe that God himself sacrificed his Son for we who do not deserve.
The Church will not satisfy the world, because the world looks for vengeance while the Church is seeking the redemption of the sinners, like Jesus seeking his lost sheep. The Church has always been clear that forgiveness of the sin does not remove the necessity of temporal (present, earthly) punishment. This is what the doctrine of Purgatory is all about, that justice missed upon Earth will be dealt upon death. She doesn't seek to avert justice, not at all. It is for civil authorities to enact it.
That doesn't mean, of course, that every individual in the hierarchy of the Church has acted with these ideals and not with other, selfish, motives. It is to their eternal shame and a scandal to all of us.
To some extent, in the last several decades, civil authorities, psychological experts, as well as Church authority have all be on a learning curve with how to deal with SOs. Civil law has hardly yet figured it out, and still have statutes of limitations which can prevent justice and puny sentences which endanger the innocent. The Church likewise is extending statutes of limitations and putting guidelines into place with regard to her own purpose of dealing with the souls involved. She treads infuriatingly slowly, to be sure, but not many other organizations have lasted 2000 years, either.
To sum up my overly long post, civil justice is properly carried through civil authorities, Canon Law is concerned with the protection of souls. Both can work simultaneously, and are not at odds with one another.
