Posted on 04/05/2018 5:37:08 PM PDT by marshmallow
But premier of New South Wales says "question of the seal of confession" will be addressed at national level.
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales is seeking to implement a range of laws targeting child abuse, in response to the final report of a broad investigation into abuse perpetrated by institutions, including members of the Church, which was released last year.
Among the proposals being considered are those which would apply to priests, including regulation or negation of the seal of confession.
The seal of confession is a set of strict rules keeping priests from revealing or commenting in any way on what is heard in the sacrament of confession. A priest who breaks the seal is excommunicated, and in the history of the Church, some priests have given their lives rather than break the seal.
But some voices in the government reason that if a priest hears about sexual abuse in confession — either from the perpetrator, or perhaps more commonly, from the victim — he should be forced to reveal his knowledge of the crime.
The premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, said the question of the seal of confession would not be included within the new state laws and should be handled at a national level: “We believe it is beyond the boundaries of any one state,” she said, also describing it as needing “to be balanced with what people believe to be religious freedoms.”
While the Church increasingly takes a lead in fighting child sex abuse, including in Australia, Church leaders maintain that the seal of confession cannot be put under discussion.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher, the archbishop of the city of Sydney, which is the largest city of New South Wales, spoke about confession in his Easter homily, which was focused on......
(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...
“Archbishop Anthony Fisher...”
Good last name for a potential martyr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fisher
This is a homosexual problem, not a priest problem. Wonder if anyone will be willing to admit that?
Offer them young boys, watch them crack.
Let these politicians see the 1953 movie I Confess
The anti-Catholic bigots are out again.
I know there has been many cases of pedophilia in the church but you cannot go after the Church as if it is the only institution that has this problem. Just look up Jimmy Saville a big BBC entertainer who was close to the Royal family and top politicians and there have been many allegations against people high up in government in Britain and in other places. I think this does smack of anti-Catholicism because it is zeroing in on one group when it seems to be quite wide spread among many groups. Britain has a long history of anti-Catholicism beginning with Henry VIII. Britain ruthlessly attacked its neighbor Ireland which was Catholic and brutally stole the lands of the Irish people leaving many people impoverished without their farmlands.
I know there has been many cases of pedophilia in the church but you cannot go after the Church as if it is the only institution that has this problem. Just look up Jimmy Saville a big BBC entertainer who was close to the Royal family and top politicians and there have been many allegations against people high up in government in Britain and in other places. I think this does smack of anti-Catholicism because it is zeroing in on one group when it seems to be quite wide spread among many groups. Britain has a long history of anti-Catholicism beginning with Henry VIII. Britain ruthlessly attacked its neighbor Ireland which was Catholic and brutally stole the lands of the Irish people leaving many people impoverished without their farmlands.
There’s no way to enforce any sort of criminal law about this unless the state does sting operations for priests in the confessional, at least as far as I can see. They could open up civil cases for stuff that was supposedly divulged in a confessional, which would probably bankrupt the Church.
Priests can’t even confirm that they heard a certain person’s confession much less what was said in it. They can’t even confirm it if the person in the confessional asks them to do so. For very good reasons. If they can’t do that, then how can they defend themselves in civil court?
Freegards
The seal of confession is not a homosexual problem.
Yeah, the non-believers just can’t help themselves.
Of course, the same rule will apply to attorney/client, and media/leaker relationships too . . . right?
Indeed. I’m Lutheran.
OK, you’re a Lutheran bigot.
As you wish, but certainly based on accurate observations.
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