Posted on 12/30/2005 10:31:42 AM PST by Antioch
The Catholic Church in Derry is to bring a whole new meaning to the saying "Be seen and not heard" after it revealed new glass fronted confessional boxes could replace the traditional booths under strict new guidelines aimed at dealing with the issue of child sex abuse.
The surprising move is just one of a number of visible changes that could come out of the document "Our Children, Our Church", a new report launched by the Church earlier this week. The guidelines in the report aim to protect children in the Church and have been described as 'robust' by Fr. Michael Canny, press officer of the Derry Diocese and Administrator of St. Eugene's Cathedral. I would imagine that we will see glass confessional boxes in churches but, of course, they will be soundproofed." At the launch of "Our Children, Our Church", the Primate of All-Ireland, Most Rev. Dr. Sean Brady, the Archbishop of Armagh, revealed that a National Board for Child Protection will be set up.
The body will include parents, childcare professionals, psychiatrists, theologians, educationalists and people from the legal and business sectors. The board will have overall responsibility for ensuring all of the guidelines in the document are implemented. The guidelines also include structures on how allegations of child sex abuse will be investigated in the future. Fr. Canny added: "There are three main themes to this report. Firstly, practical procedures will be set down as standard guidelines so that children will be safe within the Church. "Secondly, any suggestion or allegation of abuse will be investigated by professionals and experts in this field, including social services, and not by bishops. "Thirdly, the Church will provide support and training so that professional lay people will be involved in this issue."
Fr. Canny said that the new policy, which decrees that priests will no longer be allowed to be alone with a child, is in the interests of transparency. He said the main priority was to make sure young people were no longer exposed to any risk. And as part of this, Fr. Canny said he envisaged a time in the future when confessional boxes across the Diocese will be see through. "As a result of the new guidelines, the confessional boxes will have to be redesigned so that they are more open and people can see in and people can see out," said Fr. Canny.
It will present a big challenge in our work, particularly if a child comes to the parochial house to speak to a priest. Under these guidelines, the child will have to wait outside until such times as another adult can be present. "This will be a big challenge for priests. It will mean changes to our working practices but I would imagine that will be welcomed by all priests.
"This document is about changing mindsets and issuing in a new culture within the church. The safety, well-being and dignity of children is paramount in this document," he said. Fr. Canny also said that the guidelines will apply to every parish in Ireland and overseen by lay people. "This policy will have to apply in every parish. "It will have to be seen to apply to every parish. Transparency and consistency are key elements of this document. It is a clear charter of good practice. "In every parish, there is to be a professional group who will be independent of the priests and they will oversee the implementation of this document at parish level. "In more remote areas groups would oversee a cluster of parishes," he said.
Wasn't the document that was supposed to have changed the mindset of the Church was already issued by Benedict XVI-his instruction for seminaries? Fr. Canny's document certainly changes mindsets: by papering over where the real problem lies...gay-identified priests running amok in the Church. The proper response is to deal with the abusers, not to proclaim that all priests are assumed to be abusers and install glass confessional walls and an army of activists on call.
Could One say that you don't need any kind of box - glass or otherwise - to confess directly to God, without then suffering the pains and slanders of flamers?
John 2021 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
James 5
16 Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.
Indeed. I have posted the relevant scripture. Now,
PLEASE, THIS IS MATTER INTERNAL TO THE CHURCHES THAT PRACTICE CONFESSIONS TO PRIESTS. If you want to discuss the sacrament of confession in general, start another thread.
It is completely asinine, I agree.
Confessions require privacy. That includes visual as well as audial privacy. The reason separate hours are allocated for confession is that the people confessing would not be seen even going to confession, let alone be seen during it, -- that is, during one of the most intimate moments in one's life.
On the other hand, youth ministry involves much more than confessions, so if the youth minister wants to take advantage of the children, he has opportunities outside of the confession booth of whatever design.
I would like to see some of this diocese's stats on abuse and setting. My guess is that this diocese will pour thousands of dollars into a retrofit without a shred of data to show the confessional was the prime locus of child abuse in the first place. The upshot of this whole exercise will be to de-sacralize reconciliation and drive away parishioners who don't want to be a spectacle in a public aquarium with a "probable molester"
Ja 5:16 - I interpret this much the same as I do Mt 5:23-24 in that there should be no grievances or hidden/unknown sins between Believers.
And there are many places in Scripture where God says to come to Him, that he does and always will hear us and listen to us, that he will forgive us if we are truly penitent - and, plainly-put, I know God's not a "huh? what do you want? go see my secretary"-kind of Diety. :)
As for you - hey, do what you will and we'll eventually get to ask Him properly face-to-Face, right? There's never any gainsaying in a freerepublic thread and no accountibility due to its inherent anonymity, and arguments are pointless (though, sometimes, entertaining to others in a bloodless-cockfight-kind of way; and profitable to TheManagement in that it may draw more to the site and entice them to contribute - nothing is done without a thought to Profit).
As to the "thread hijacker" individual: pfeh.
Thanks.
How about just putting the glass on the priest's side?
Priests will not slap their foreheads, drop their jaws or roll their eyes.
This will also jeopardize the confessional privilege, or at least put it in question. For one thing, crime will be much harder to confess when the fact and the duration of the confession is public knowledge, and the priest is subject to close oversight.
It is still destructive to the notion of privacy, which is the cornerstone of confession, because it signals that the process is being watched and is supposed to be watched.
Plus, I would imagine that the abuse they are guarding against is the child exposing himself to the priest, because any other form of abuse is prevented by the traditional design as well. Making the priest visible does not safeguard against that.
Bottom line, if the priest is not trusted, he should not be chosen as confessor regardless of the safeguards, and if he is trusted, no safeguard can prevent abuse.
Sounds like a pretty stupid (and expensive) idea to me. If people are deeply concerned that a priest will behave inappropriately out of sight in the confessional, why not hold the confessions in the main part of the church? I've been to a couple penance services where there were several priests but maybe one confessional. The priests would sit in chairs in the corners of the church and the penitent would sit next to them. People spoke quietly and music was played so no one could hear any confessions. You couldn't even see the faces of the penitents since they had their backs to the folks in the pews. But if some inappropriate touching was going on, it would have been very easy to notice.
Wow! It took to the whole second post for someone to come in and preach to us.
Amazing.
Ping.
This has got to be one of the most preposterous things I've ever heard of!
Teen boys do not get molested by priests in a confessional, they get molested on camping trips and similar circumstances.
And yes, B16 has made it clear what the real problem is.
Sheesh!
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This has got to be one of the most preposterous things I've ever heard of!
Not to mention that some people can lip read, also one does not like confessing their darks secrets when an audience is looking.
LOL!! Good point!!
So now the assumption is that no priest is trustworthy. This is crazy.
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