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Diocese Condemns Delaware Bill Requiring Priests to Break Seal of Confession
New York Post ^ | March 8, 2023 | Jon Brown

Posted on 03/09/2023 1:31:44 PM PST by nickcarraway

The Delaware General Assembly is considering a bill that would require Roman Catholic priests to break the seal of confession to report child abuse and neglect, prompting condemnation from the Diocese of Wilmington.

House Bill 74, the sponsors of which include state Senate President Pro Tempore David P. Sokola, could be heard before the House Judiciary Committee within weeks, according to OSV News.

The Diocese of Wilmington condemned the proposed law, noting that priests are bound by the sacrament of reconciliation from breaking the seal of confession, according to the outlet. Catholic canon law mandates that a priest who violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


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KEYWORDS: catholic; confession; delaware
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To: jimwatx

I don’t meet many illegals who are Catholic. They are JW or some kind of Evangelical.


61 posted on 03/09/2023 4:53:20 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: arthurus

“I am Catholic and have noted that the more Catholic states are more left. “
______________________________________________

Good observation. Also, correct observation.

Catholic countries themselves lean to the leftist, if not lay on their left sides of the political spectrum.

It’s because of the ‘Group think,’ which infected the early church and has never been expelled from it’s teachings.

Note: Raised Catholic so I do have experience in that side of the aisle.

The Catholic Church does not teach the truth that individual behavior will result in individual consequences. Never has, unfortunately. It does make ‘noises,’ that sounds like it and it causes so many millions to walk down the wrong path.

So many peoples are ignorant of why Catholic run/ran countries so easily fall/fell under Communistic/Socialistic/Atheistic orders....it’s truly because of the ‘Group Think,’ policies.

There’s a reason why so many priests drink themselves to death. Carrying around all the knowledge they have heard of evil will do so much harm to one’s soul and spirit.

If a man will remain a Catholic Priest he must be prepared to enter jail to keep the Confessional Seal intact.

Most people believe simply by ‘confessing’ their deeds they will be forgiven. They are mistaken in the most basic way. Without true repentance they cannot be forgiven even by the Priest. A priest in the Catholic Church is not to grant Absolution if there is no true repentance and steps to be taken to make amends (police action, if needed).

The above is why so many Catholics freaked when the current Pope indicated the Priest *must* grant Absolution even if there is no true repentance. Another indication of the current Pope’s lack of fear towards the LORD God.

Sorry. I’ll get off my soapbox.


62 posted on 03/09/2023 4:56:31 PM PST by Notthereyet (NotThereYet. )
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To: HYPOCRACY; Boogieman
If I were a priest and somebody told me they murdered someone, I’d report them.

Yes, any priest would report someone who told them they murdered someone. But if the murder was part of a confession, no. I imagine part of the penance would telling someone to confess.

63 posted on 03/09/2023 4:57:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: HYPOCRACY; NorthMountain; Boogieman
I could pretend to be a priest and get all those Catholic serial killers to confess to me though.

Do you have any evidence that any serial killer went to confession about their crimes?

Serial killer Herbert Mullin stabbed a priest to death in the confessional in 1972, but he was a paranoid schizophrenic who thought he could prevent earthquakes by sacrificing people. But maybe some people view him as a hero.

64 posted on 03/09/2023 5:11:15 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Revel

I seriously doubt the pedophiles are actually going to confession about it now.


65 posted on 03/09/2023 5:12:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Absolution is not free. It is dependent upon the acts taken in repentance. False confessions, i.e. no intention to repent or refusal to undertake contrition, does nothing to help the confessor in the eyes of God.

In other words, going through the motions while lying to God doesn’t work.

Turning yourself in to the appropriate authorities is a perfectly fine, and I’d wager universally given, admonition by a priest to a confessor of crime - especially crimes against the person.


66 posted on 03/09/2023 5:16:08 PM PST by TonyinLA (I don't have sufficient information to formulate an informed opinion said no lefty ever.)
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To: nickcarraway

Probably true...doesn’t change a thing.

How does removing the priest-penitent privilege help a non-confessor or his victim?


67 posted on 03/09/2023 5:18:54 PM PST by TonyinLA (I don't have sufficient information to formulate an informed opinion said no lefty ever.)
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To: TonyinLA

I agree, but I don’t think that has any impact on this law. The priest is only acting in God’s place. It would be up to God to turn the person in.


68 posted on 03/09/2023 5:25:16 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I can’t find any examples of laws like this ever being used in the case of penitential rites. Supposedly some have been on the books for a while. I think maybe they just pass them to make people feel good.

No one that supports them has ever even described how it supposed to work in practice, much less a single example of it actually working, at least that I have seen. That seems like a pretty low bar.

It seems like it would be hearsay no matter what unless there was some sort of recording. The priest can’t confirm or deny they heard anyone’s confession even if the person that confessed asks them to do so. It’s not like there are notes or appointment/billing records like a psychiatrist would keep.

Freegards


69 posted on 03/09/2023 5:29:45 PM PST by Ransomed
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To: Notthereyet
The Catholic Church does not teach the truth that individual behavior will result in individual consequences.

Actually, isn't it the opposite? Catholics actually are the ones who say ones's actions are the measure of one's faith, while many non-Catholics say that only one's acceptance of Jesus matters? I believe Martin Luther said “If men only believe enough in Christ they can commit adultery and murder a thousand times a day without periling their salvation.”

70 posted on 03/09/2023 5:32:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: HYPOCRACY

In a situation like that, the priest would tell the confessor that if they were truly sorry, they must turn themselves in to obtain forgiveness.


71 posted on 03/09/2023 6:38:38 PM PST by Mean Daddy (Every time Hillary lies, a demon gets its wings. - Windflier)
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To: nickcarraway

“Actually, isn’t it the opposite? “

Addressing the non-Catholic issue, first.
Accepting Jesus as your LORD and Savior is not a matter of words. It must be accompanied by the true repentance of sin. The acceptance of Jesus is so hard because it’s an act that can only be done as a individual - a single entity of man interacting with the LORD God.

The walk of a Christian is a daily struggle against evil in the most basic manner and we must always remember that the only way we were forgiven was by the debt paid by Jesus. And we must *always* remember how fallen we are in all our ways and actions because we can become far more full of vanity than the non-believer in our ways.

This is why accepting Jesus as the LORD and Savior and in worldly terms, the Payor of our Eternal Debt is so hard to hundreds of millions of people: Because it’s nothing, absolutely nothing we have done or can do on our own to clear that Eternal Debt and it irks mankind beyond clear thinking.

That being the most important deed leads to the natural act of wanting to please the LORD God and yet walking around in our earthly body. We then strive for living for Christ in gratitude for His Mercy. Not that we *have* to; because we *want* to live for Christ. We unfortunately are still shackled to the earthy in our bodies and as such fall to temptation and must deal with the consequences of our actions.

For those who believe they have only to mouth the words, they have not heard the Truth of the Word.

For Catholics, it’s actions. Always actions. Go to confession. Go to Mass. Go to confession every week or even daily if you plan to take Sacrament daily.

The Church teaches priests must be the one to forgive sins. They teach various levels of sins. By confession and Absolution sins may be forgiven is the Catholic Church’s tenant.

What if no priest is available? Is a Catholic bound for hell because he or see had no one to forgive them? The Catholic Church speaks of the Spirit of the Church yet teaches man is the one to put forgiveness into action.

I’m not speaking against men being the priests, by the way. I have no issues at all with that stand. Men being the leaders of a church is a Biblical instruction and for a reason.

It’s about the Truth the Catholic Church does not teach that hurts my heart for so many Catholics. The Forgiveness of Sins is done by the Acceptance that only Jesus could and did pay that debt, once for all mankind. Only Jesus being God made man could pay that price.

Once the Church decreed Mary was free of sin (therefore perfect) and could bare Jesus they opened up the Group Think.

See, if Mary was free of sin, how? She was born of both man and woman and thus fully human. Was her mother then free of sin as well? If it continued backwards like that, then Jesus would not have been the only one who was/is perfect. If she was protected from sin, as the Catholic Church speaks of, then it implies the same thinking; that there is more than one perfect being.

Mind you, Mary was not elevated until much later in the development of the Catholic Church. There were women who sought to elevate women and weak men who went along with it for various reasons.

The Catholic Church has a full and rich history of both good and evil. For that matter, what denomination made of man doesn’t have such history? My issues are not with denominations in general.

The lack of Truth being told is my issue with the Catholic Church.

The lack of Truth being told is also my issue with the other denominations as well. For what’s a church’s reason to exist if they don’t adhere to the teachings of Truth as well as the telling of the Truth?

I am very sorry if this has rambled on and I make no sense.

You know, how the feeling/heart is....you have the want to say something and yet the inability to say it.

I was so, so, very lost before accepting Jesus as my LORD and Savior.

And still, I manage to sin every single day.

A side note: Want to know why many Catholic mothers who have lost children prior to them getting baptized by a go insane? Because they are told their child cannot go to Heaven because they were not baptized. Over my life as a Catholic I was always curious about that being told to the mothers. No priest was able to tell me why they would say that to a mother or push that baptism for a child. The baby/child is incapable at that point of even knowing what sin is and yet they would be in the eyes of the Catholic Church separated from Christ for all eternity.

And that, my friend, is the first step in scaring a mother into ‘Group Think.’


72 posted on 03/09/2023 6:42:01 PM PST by Notthereyet (NotThereYet. )
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To: Notthereyet
Want to know why many Catholic mothers who have lost children prior to them getting baptized by a go insane? LOL. You have to be kidding. I don't know a single Catholic mother who has gone insane like that. Do you have any data that supports that, or you just report any blood libel you hear?

Because they are told their child cannot go to Heaven because they were not baptized.

That's not even what Catholicism teaches. So, you've kind of outed yourself. Either you never really were Catholic, or you were Catholic in name only,, and never really learned anything until anti-Christian bigots got ahold of you.

73 posted on 03/09/2023 6:49:53 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Notthereyet
This is why accepting Jesus as the LORD and Savior and in worldly terms, the Payor of our Eternal Debt is so hard to hundreds of millions of people: Because it’s nothing, absolutely nothing we have done or can do on our own to clear that Eternal Debt and it irks mankind beyond clear thinking.

Jesus gave you a gift. If you choose to reject it, don't blame it on Him.

74 posted on 03/09/2023 6:51:32 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

“Jesus gave you a gift. If you choose to reject it, don’t blame it on Him.”
______________________________________

Just a bit confused, nickcarraway.

Where in the world did you get the idea I refused to accept the Gift of Salvation?

Cannot begin to think of where you may have surmised that terrible thought.


75 posted on 03/09/2023 7:12:05 PM PST by Notthereyet (NotThereYet. )
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To: Notthereyet

You said it’s all God’s fault if you don’t get saved, not your5 fault.


76 posted on 03/09/2023 7:15:12 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

“You said it’s all God’s fault if you don’t get saved, not your5 fault.”
_______________________________________________

Please copy and paste those words in your next reply. I would be most definitely curious where you saw those words.

I am thinking you misread some part of the post. Or did not think upon the words you read..... ?? .....


77 posted on 03/09/2023 7:21:13 PM PST by Notthereyet (NotThereYet. )
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To: nickcarraway

“That’s not even what Catholicism teaches. So, you’ve kind of outed yourself.”

________________________________________

Nickcarraway, There was no need for to ‘kind of out myself.’

I am always upfront about being raised Catholic. My beloved husband was raised Catholic. It was a painful walk leaving the Catholic Church. The Truth of the Gift of Salvation was not offered or spoke of and it was and is the only way to Truth.

You are extremely angry with me.

Yet have not shown me the words which you accused me of saying.

If you can get over your anger, please, copy and paste those words.

It’s important to understand where you formed your belief.

I truly hope you can seek to resolve your anger.


78 posted on 03/09/2023 7:34:38 PM PST by Notthereyet (NotThereYet. )
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To: roving

I guess satan knows his bible and understands Jesus’ instruction in Matt 18:18.


79 posted on 03/10/2023 3:43:24 AM PST by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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