Australian Archbishop Defies Confessional Reporting Law

The Stream ^ | 6/16/18 | Joshua Gill

[Mrs. Don-o]

I personally think sexually molesting a child should be a capital offense. Pedos almost always are serial re-offenders. Or they should have life imprisonment without the tiniest possibility of parole.

Attacking the integrity of the Sacrament of Reconciliation won't accomplish anything other than drive good, saintly priests to prison, as Communists, Nazis and all tyrants do. For one thing, nobody would go to confession if they thought the priest would tell what was said. Not only for criminal matters, but for any matter.

In any case, nobody has the authority to change the secrecy of the confessional. Nobody. It's an intrinsic feature of the Sacrament. As I said, I priest should rather die than violate that.

[DesertRhino]

“The divine law is a higher law than any human law.”

true, but if that is the case, why aren’t politicians like Pelosi, the Kennedy’s, or the Catholic Justices on the Supreme court who celebrate and promote abortion and homosexuality excommunicated? I mean willfully, and defiantly, with no intent to stop.

If you don’t enforce that higher law in those cases, then why is it so sacred to protect a priest’s right to protect someone sodomizing kids?

[DesertRhino]

What do the priests do to the pervert they became aware of? Simply give them a penance for the soul, and then treat them normally outside the confessional?

I just cannot see Christ doing that.

What realistic things would you expect to see a priest do to such a person?

[Salvation]

You’re welcome. He was hearing a confession in a jail and unknowingly was recorded in doing so.

[DesertRhino]

” Or they should have life imprisonment without the tiniest possibility of parole.”

In some ways, that would scare me more than a death penalty. True life sentence would be strong medicine.

[DesertRhino]

I will read that for sure. I’m about to have a little time on my hands next month.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I very much doubt a pedo would do a face-to-face confession. The option of "behind-a-screen" and anonymous is always available, and I feel confident that IF a pedo confessed at all, it would be in such a way that he could not be identified.

I always confess face-to-face, but I know there are plenty of people who don't.

What should a confessor say to a penitent pedo? For one thing, that the pedo has to turn himself in to law enforcement.

We had a sexually disordered priest in this diocese. I don't know if he ever went for the young stuff. He was arrested for sexual battery at a health club in Knox County. He touched an adult man offensively, apparently. He was suspended from the active priesthood as soon as the bishop heard about it. He went to prison. He died of the complications of AIDS.

I'm told our good bishop visited him both in prison and in the hospital, and was at his bedside at the end. They say he died a peaceful and repentant death.

Our existence depends on the mercy of God.

[Ransomed]

I have yet to read an account from a supporter of this law of how it is supposed to be enforced. I can only think of a handful of ways:

Sting operations with recordings, or hearsay if that is the standard.

Actual child abusers claiming or having recordings of themselves confessing their crimes as insurance to trade for lesser sentencing in case the are caught

Using the breaking of this law in civil cases for financial settlements

Is the standard just hearsay or do you have to have a recording? Because the priest can only respond one way—they can’t even confirm a confession took place much less what was said. I can’t see they have any way to defend from false claims no matter what, at least civilly.

Freegards

[blackpacific]

Many of the public hypocrites you mentioned are excommunicated ipso facto, no need to have their local bishop hurling excommunications.

That being said, the silence from the leadership in the Catholic Church is an abnormality that is the result of the intentional hiring of homosexual priests as part of a freemason plan to destroy the Catholic Church from within, and unending train wreck that we have seen go off the trestle bridge without interruption for the last 50 years. This is all documented or chronicled in two books, “Good Bye, Good Men” and “Windswept House”. Plus there have been several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in which she warned us that these type of abuses were coming and what we needed to do to avoid them.

The election of Pope Francis appears to be the final chapter in this age of the spirit of Vatican Council II, being a personification of what that spirit meant.

The Great Seal of confession was instituted directly by Jesus Christ and despite what may seem a practical reason to make exception to it, it is a seal that can never be broken.

I have to go... maybe I will have more time late to flesh this out...

[Romulus]

The priest is under no obligation to “fix” the soul of someone who doesn’t show firm purpose of amendment.

[Still Thinking]

If the law can respect attorney-client privelige, it can make room for confessional.

[OpusatFR]

The next domino to fall will be finding political dissidents and those who oppose government policies. People speak to confessors about their fears too.

[miss marmelstein]

I have watched a parade of communists, homo advocates, lesbo nuns, pedophiles

---

But isn’t that your natural constituency?

[pbear8]

if someone confesses that he has raped a child, and he doesn’t call the cops, he SHOULD be arrested

Since the vast majority of confessions are anonymous, how would the priest know who to turn in? He would counsel the person to turn himself in and deny absolution until he did.