Posted on 11/14/2012 10:52:47 AM PST by marshmallow
Australian priests could be forced to breach the seal of the confessional to report child sex abuse amid growing calls to end cover-ups involving the Catholic Church.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday slammed the use of the confessional to avoid reporting abuse, saying it is a "sin of omission" and all adults have a duty to protect children.
She announced this week the launch of a Royal Commission to investigate offences involving religious and non-religious organisations and insisted it will examine not only abuse but the role of institutions in covering it up.
Though the commission's terms of reference are yet to be decided, Ms Gillard said on Wednesday she was concerned about adults "averting their eyes" from crimes against children.
''It's not good enough for people to engage in sin of omission and not act when a child is at risk," she said.
Australia's most powerful Catholic, Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, was this week widely condemned for insisting that priests who hear confessions of child sex abuse must keep quiet because "the Seal of Confession is inviolable".
He said priests should avoid taking confessions from colleagues suspected of being paedophiles but that they cannot then report the crime to police.
"If that is done outside the confessional (it can be passed on)," he said.
"(But) the Seal of Confession is inviolable If the priest knows beforehand about such a situation, the priest should refuse to hear the confession." The strict secrecy of confessions is believed to be more than 1000 years old.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
all Catholics are evil.
You’re lacking an < / sarcasm>.
Is that intentional or inadvertent?
That’s o.k. I figured we were on the same team.
Why do you believe everyone has something about themselves that they hate?
Why do you believe everyone has something about themselves that they hate?
Well I didn’t make it up. I got it from your last paragraph.
Well I didn’t make it up. I got it from your last paragraph.
Well I didnt make it up. I got it from your last paragraph.
but if a man or woman can see themselves in the same light they could see some one else it may help them to over come what they hate about them selves.
I do not consider a man or woman to be every one.
ok
Why not just execute all priests? It worked in Mexico.
It wasn’t sarcasm- I was just trying to express the implications of what some people think.
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