On Thursday, Pope Francis issued a new law that requires all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-up by their superiors to church authorities. Described by some media outlets as a "groundbreaking" new law, advocates who have pushed for more transparency from the Catholic Church say this is just more of the same.

The problem, according to Isley and other advocates, is that the church doesn't need to get itself any more involved – it needs outside input. Specifically, it needs local law enforcement to be part of the reporting process.

"Bishops reporting to themselves, that's been the problem from the beginning," Isley said. "All they did was add another layer of bureaucracy; this doesn't require civil authorities. What we need are police and prosecutors.

"Let's get the bishop to the crime scene first? Geez, that is not the guy you want. They need to watch 'Law & Order' to understand how this should work."