Church Rite Can Hinder Reporting of Priests

As legislators in Illinois and elsewhere seek to force Catholic clergy to report allegations of sexual abuse, they are finding the confession booth to be guarded by a thicket of legal, political and theological issues.

Last week, the Illinois Senate passed a proposal that would exempt clergy from the reporting requirement if they learn the information in the confessional or while acting as a spiritual adviser. Critics say the exemption is too broad and may render the law meaningless.

Ah yes, another man made rule.

The priest hears the confession of some morally corupt act, say nothing to anyone, lets the victim continue to suffer, and under the man made rule absolves the person of his sin.

How thoughful of man to design a rule in order to help God out with his busy schedule while letting the victim suffer.

I'm sure God is delighted with this arrangement.

From the nature and specifics of your post, one feels a sense of confidence that you are clueless as to what God may find delightful. You, on the other hand, apparently find Catholic-bashing delightful. Have a good time but you clearly have not thought this through. If the seal of the confessional is breached, it may be breached as to the victim who confides therein his grief suffered at the hands of a pederast who has infiltrated the priesthood or any other pederast.

Would you have the priest forced to testify as to the confessions of an adulterous husband whose divorcing wife fears that she may have been exposed to AIDS? Would you have the priest forced to testify as to the businessman's embezzlement of funds from his employer? If the government sees fit to pass laws requiring the breach of confidentiality of the confessional, priests should be prepared for martyrdom rather than comply. The First Amendment protects against this sort of invasion by Caesar of the things that are God's.

Radical secular forces would like nothing more than the eradication of the confidentiality of the confessional as a first step toward what they wrongly anticipate would be the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church here. Those who are not Catholic, and particularly Bible-believing Christians whose theological beliefs separate them strongly from some Roman beliefs, would do well to mull the implications of this argument. If the Roman Catholic Church can be successfully persecuted by the governments, state and local, in spite of its status as by far the largest single denomination in the country, there will be no protection for any other faith. We will fight. Will you fight at our side against common secularist enemies? Will you fight along with us in defense of the First Amendment?

Well said. Couldn't have said it better myself. The Seal of Confession must never be broken, it is already scary enough going to confession and then to wonder if the priest is looking down on you for what you confess, that fear would increase ever more if priests could tell the authorities about what they hear in confession or could be subpoened concerning what is said in confession. Scary though.

the Illinois Senate passed a proposal that would exempt clergy from the reporting requirement if they learn the information in the confessional or while acting as a spiritual adviser.

Who cares what these sanctimonious sacks of sh** pass? It's the church's doctrine, not the gubbermints, for His sake!

FMCDH

It seems that you have a rather short fuse. The entire reply was not about Catholic bashing as you so readly assumed.

The reply is about man made rules.

While I assure you that it is your decision if you accept these rules or not, it is also my decision to question the results of these type rules.

Your point of stating that it is scary enough woundering what the Priest thinks of you for your confession only reveals that the Priest is no more than a man with years of training for his calling choice.

It is not my purpose to argue with you over topics that will never me answered to your or my satisfaction.,p> While I have great sadness for the position that the Church find it's self in due to a few exceptions, I still have the same sadness for the victims and the appearence of a great cover up. I no allusions that there are many different churches that have equal or more cover ups that the Catholic Church, but that is the burden that they have to bear. If they are exposed, I will likewise question them in much the same way.

Like you said there are areas that a Bible believing Christian differs from Catholic belief, I would hope that the end result would be the same.

Remember that we are Brothers in Christ our Lord and Savior.

It seems that you have a rather short fuse. The entire reply was not about Catholic bashing as you so readly assumed. The reply is about man made rules. While I assure you that it is your decision if you accept these rules or not, it is also my decision to question the results of these type rules. Your point of stating that it is scary enough woundering what the Priest thinks of you for your confession only reveals that the Priest is no more than a man with years of training for his calling choice. It is not my purpose to argue with you over topics that will never me answered to your or my satisfaction.,p> While I have great sadness for the position that the Church find it's self in due to a few exceptions, I still have the same sadness for the victims and the appearence of a great cover up. I no allusions that there are many different churches that have equal or more cover ups that the Catholic Church, but that is the burden that they have to bear. If they are exposed, I will likewise question them in much the same way. Like you said there are areas that a Bible believing Christian differs from Catholic belief, I would hope that the end result would be the same. Remember that we are Brothers in Christ our Lord and Savior.

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