On May 31, the California state senate passed a bill requiring priests to report anything they heard in the sacrament of confession from priests or colleagues relating to sex abuse. The bill passed with a 30-4 vote, with 4 senators not voting at all. Catholic clergy and survivor groups have clashed on the bill, the clergy against it, survivor groups all for "increased transparency."

The report attributed much of the increase to a victim compensation program implemented in five dioceses in New York state.

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In the survey conducted online in early May and just published by the British Columbia-based Angus Reid Institute, 78 percent of all Canadians (including non-Catholics) gave the church a poor grade.

James Carroll’s article gives no hint that we are all, in fact, sinners in need of salvation; he argues that the only thing lay Catholics need to be saved from is Catholicism itself.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts has said that all members of the Catholic Church are obliged to act in accordance with local civil law on mandatory reporting of sex abuse cases.