Posted on 01/27/2006 8:26:48 AM PST by NYer
A bill under consideration by New Hampshire legislators would require Catholic priests and other religious figures to divulge any information they hear regarding child abuse, even if told to them by parishioners in the private act of "confession."
According to the Concord Monitor newspaper, the Granite State currently has a statute requiring anyone in the state who suspects child abuse to report it to authorities. The Child Protection Act, enacted in 1979, also places a mandatory reporting requirement on clergy.
However, the paper said, a separate statute exempts clergymen and women from having to provide court testimony regarding anything told to them in confidence during an act of confession.
The current legislation under consideration would amend state law and require religious figures to provide unqualified reporting of any abuse divulged to them, under any circumstances. It is the second time since 2004 New Hampshire lawmakers have attempted to pass such a measure.
Confession is a sacrament most commonly associated with Catholics, in which the faithful are required to periodically confess sins – generally violations of the Ten Commandments – to priests, who then absolve them of those sins before God. For it to be valid, it must be held in the strictest of confidence, Catholic officials told the paper.
Church hierarchy in New Hampshire, though mindful of the seriousness of child abuse, nevertheless criticized any effort to force clergy to reveal information passed along during confession.
Diane Quinlan, chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester, said that while "there's no question that child abuse is a terrible crime," allowing a "limited exception" for confession was necessary for the uninhibited practice of Catholicism.
"That's how serious this is in our belief," she told the Monitor.
Local police officials – some who are practicing Catholics as well as leaders in the church – still argued for passage of the law.
"We feel it's important that there be no exemptions from the mandatory reporting statute," Northfield Police Chief Scott Hilliard, representing the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, said.
Some lawmakers said Catholic priests had told them they would go to prison before divulging any information told them in confession.
Such defiance could make the law moot, some argued.
Others said they were worried about whether such an ordinance would pass constitutional muster. But both sides – pro and con – presented Supreme Court opinions supporting their positions.
For Roman Catholic priests, the confidentiality of anything that they learn from penitents during the course of confession is absolute. This strict confidentiality is known as the Seal of the Confessional.
According to Roman Catholic Canon Law 983 §1:
The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.
Priests may not reveal what they had learned during confession to anyone, even under the threat of their own death or that of others. (This is unique to the Seal of the Confessional. Many other forms of confidentiality, including – in most states – attorney-client privilege, allow ethical breaches of the confidence to save the life of another.) For a priest to break confidentiality would lead to an latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication reserved to the Holy See (Code of Canon Law, 1388 §1).
In a criminal matter, a priest may encourage or require the penitent to surrender to authorities and may withhold absolution if the penitent refuses to do so. However, this is the extent of the leverage they wield;they may not directly or indirectly disclose the matter to civil authorities themselves.
There are limited cases where portions of a confession may be revealed to others, but always with the penitent's permission and always without actually revealing the penitent's identity. This is the case, for example, with more serious offenses, as some excommunicable offenses are reserved to the bishop or even to the Holy See, and their permission to grant absolution must be obtained.
Civil authorities in the United States are usually respectful of this confidentiality. However, several years ago an ambitious attorney in Oregon secretly recorded a confession without the knowledge of the priest or the penitent involved. This lead to official protests by the local Archbishop and the Vatican. The tape has since been sealed, and the Federal Court has since ruled that the taping was in violation of the 4th Amendment, and ordered an injunction against any further tapings.
In other words, the Church will submit itself to the state, not God.
A good priest would reveal a criminal, especially one harming a child.
A bad judge will only give him 60 days.
Welcome to New England, 2006.
The "confessional" part of it will go over like a lead balloon at the Supreme Court.
What took this so long?
Why is this already not a law in all 50 states?
In TX they are required to do this with exception of confession. Certain people , teachers, coaches, doctors, clergy are required by law to report any and all suspected child abuse. Case in point if they do not they can be held criminally liable.
No can do. Any Catholic priest who goes along with this ain't a Catholic priest. He's something else.
A good Catholic priest would urge the penitent to surrender himself - but cannot and must not go to the cops himself.
They can certainly pass the law. But no proper Catholic priest will obey it.
You're correct. I had to go re-read the seal to be clear.
We have the confessional privilege for a reason. Circumventing it is a bad idea.
Because it's absolutely unenforceable. A priest must follow man's law, but only when it does not interfere with God's law.
SD
So where in God's law does it say that he has to protect Child Molestors?
"So where in God's law does it say that he has to protect Child Molestors? "
Nowhere. There is no Biblical support for the seal of the confessional. Indeed, there's no Biblical support for the Sacrament of Confession.
What there is, however, is the First Amendment of the Constitution, which affirms the right of freedom of worship. The Roman Catholic Church has a doctrine about a priest's responsibility to keep confessional admissions secret.
So, circumventing that is going to be a knotty legal problem, and will be unlikely to succeed.
Still, there is no Biblical support for the seal of the confessional.
Wouldn't be the first time.
The State is NOT God. Deal with it.
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