Posted on 05/29/2019 12:02:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Catholic priests in California would be legally obligated to report to police sexual abuse confessions brought to them by fellow priests and other church employees if a bill quickly moving through the state legislature becomes law.
Religious liberty advocates, including representatives of Catholic dioceses in California, challenge the legislation, saying it would invade a sacred space and direct priests to violate the “seal of confession.”
“Sometimes the best intentions can lead to bad legislation,” Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement on California’s Senate Bill 360, which was approved by wide margins last week and now heads to the state Assembly.
Under Roman Catholic teachings, the sins confessed by a parishioner to a priest in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation are secret to all but God, who absolves the sins through the instrument of the priest.
Current California law respects the “seal of confession,” requiring any member of the clergy (rabbis, priests or ministers) to report suspected sexual abuse of minors to authorities, except for suspicions raised via “penitential communication.”
The bill proposed by state Sen. Jerry Hill, San Francisco Democrat, would narrow that exemption for church employees, including priests, who admit to or suggest sexual abuse sins during confession.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“Make your point. You have yet to do so.”
Read my previous.
I read your previous. What’s your point?
Did I word that correctly enough to satisfy you?
“Why is it a strawman?”
1. There is no suggestion of doing what you present.
2. Your presentation of one illegal act has no bearing on another illegal act.
“Why do you think your right-to-privacy will withstand this kind of egregious violation of others’ rights?
Did I word that correctly enough to satisfy you? “
No.
“I read your previous. What’s your point?”
Take it to your priest. He surely will explain it to you.
I see.
You don’t have a point.
Thanks for admitting it.
Well, religion or not, if you know of someone abusing a child, and say nothing to the authorities, then you should be charged as an accessory if and when they are caught. The religion you claim and the garb your wear and the circumstances under which you find out make no difference. If someone says that they need to answer to God, not man, as an excuse for not immediately informing the authorities about the actions of a child molester, then they can have all the time with God they want while in prison.
Approve? They would be first in line to lie for the State.
All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.
Right?
Thanks for mentioning that. After reviewing priests hearing confession with Google Images, privacy seems to depend partly on a parishes' resources.
Another FReeper noted that Canon law requires option to confess anonymously.
And as I mentioned in previous post, 14th Amendment helps protect privacy option in states.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is easier for women to argue politically correct privacy to murder unborn children than it is for priests to argue 14th Amendment protections for confessional.
“And that Doctor-Patient crap, too. Your colonoscopy ought to be a public record.....”
It already is for those who have their wives record their post colonoscopy f@rts and load them on youtube.
All Priests have to sit and refuse to answer any query having to do with the confessional. California is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the intelligence of the politicians. Senator Jerry Hill is simply a democrat who is trying to break the Catholic Church seal of confession for whatever reason. It will not work!
Right after Planned Parenthood reports child molestations on 14 year old girls.
That is coming, surely.
My parish still has it.
Question - why is it so important to confess heinous crimes to a priest? Admit and repent to God and if you’re really honest about it - if one does so and truly repents, he might be inclined to turn himself in instead of saying a few prayers and maybe donating a bit to the man behind the curtain and calling it ‘even’...
Romans 13:1-2.
The Catholic Church has brought this on themselves. The Catholic Church change this with one simple solution: report crime to law enforcement.
But the Catholic Church just can’t bring themselves to obey the law of civil authorities. The Catholic Church believes they are above it.
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