Experts say grand juries unlikely to indict bishops

As prosecutors turn to grand juries to investigate sex abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, church observers are wondering whether the ultimate target of criminal charges will be a cardinal or bishop who mishandled molester priests.

Several legal experts say that successfully prosecuting a church leader for protecting abusers would be a formidable task, since attorneys would need to prove that a bishop meant to help offenders commit crimes. The details revealed since the abuse crisis erupted in January do not support that theory, they say.

Yet the possibility remains that a prosecutor who found a case within the statute of limitations would bring charges in the current atmosphere of public outrage over the scandals.

“They’re elected officials and they’re responsive to the electorate,” said Robert M. Bloom, a professor at Boston College Law School.

In Cincinnati, Prosecutor Michael Allen subpoenaed Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk in April, but excused him after the archbishop’s lawyers provided prosecutors with undisclosed evidence they had demanded. The archdiocese’s chief record-keeper, Chancellor Rev. Christopher Armstrong, did testify.

Religious schools can use tax-exempt bonds

Nashville, Tenn. In a decision affecting religious schools across Tennessee, a federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that Church of Christ-affiliated Lipscomb University can benefit from tax-exempt municipal bonds.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned a 2001 federal ruling that government authorities could not issue tax-free bonds for a “pervasively sectarian” institution like Lipscomb.

The appeals court said the bonds were “a neutral program to benefit education, including that provided by sectarian institutions.” But a dissenting opinion said “direct economic benefit” for a sectarian school violates constitutional separation of church and state.

Lipscomb used $15 million in bonds issued through Nashville’s Industrial Development Board to build and equip a new library, renovate the old library as office space, build athletic facilities and an addition to the university’s business center.

Appeals court refuses to change Columbine ruling

Denver The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reconsider its decision allowing school officials to ban religious themes on tiles painted by families of two students killed in the Columbine High School massacre.

The families asked the court to reconsider its June decision, but the judges declined in a brief order.

The court had reversed a lower court ruling requiring school officials at Columbine to restore the tiles, which were to hang in a school hallway as part of a memorial to victims of the 1999 shootings, in which 12 students, a teacher and the two assailants died.