Hmmm...what can a good bishop do to guard against the possibility of sexual assaults by clergy?
Reform the seminary? Ensure that all priests are faithful and honest? Read the riot act to priests on the edge?
Nah....let's just order windows installed in all reconciliation rooms, instead.
Now anyone passing by a confessional or room where one-on-one counseling takes place will be able to gaze inside. McGrath admits the cost could be a loss of some privacy in that most personal of rituals, the ancient sacrament of penance. But the bishop says he has no choice: The recent sexual-abuse scandals demand that parishioners feel safe while alone with clerics during confession and counseling -- and that priests be protected from false accusations.
Ironically...
The only confessionals which will not undergo renovation are the most traditional ones, a fading model that's found in perhaps a quarter of local parishes. The traditional confessional box contains three separate doors leading to three separate chambers: The priest sits in the middle chamber, the penitent in a chamber on either side of him.
And this issue, of course, was one of the motivating forces behind the development of that particular model of confessional in the first place, proving, once again, that there is nothing new under the sun and that maybe all those old coots knew what they were doing lo those many years ago.