The Seal of the Confessional Is Under Attack in California

The National Catholic Register ^ | 5/8/19 | Patti Armstrrong

[marshmallow]

In response to pending bill requiring Catholic priests to report child sex abuse learned about through the sacrament, priests insist on upholding sacred trust.

California state Sen. Jerry Hill introduced a bill to the state Legislature on Feb. 20 that would require Catholic priests to report child sex abuse learned about in the confessional. The clergy and more than 40 other professions are already mandatory reporters there, but crimes disclosed during confession have been exempt. According to Hill, “The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk.” The bill is currently awaiting a hearing.

Although a similar law was passed in South Australia last October, bishops and priests there have publicly vowed never to break the seal of the confessional. Quoting canon law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “... It is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason. A priest, therefore, cannot break the seal to save his own life, to protect his good name, to refute a false accusation, to save the life of another, to aid the course of justice (like reporting a crime), or to avert a public calamity” (2490). Automatic excommunication is incurred on any priest breaking that seal.

Adding fuel to the fire, Father James E. Connell of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, a canon lawyer and advocate for victims/survivors of sexual abuse, wrote in a recent commentary that it is time to modify the Church’s seal of the confessional for abuse of minors. He acknowledged that the law against a priest revealing sins told in confession can be found at least by the 12th century but said that public penances were once imposed for grave sins. According to him, that proves......

[arthurus]

You have zero concept of the Church and your hatred of Christians who are not your own little sect is pretty appalling and uninformed.

[arthurus]

So you believe that if such things will be reported they will still be confessed? I suspect you are miffed by the whole concept of confession of sins and ignorant of what is involved or even what it is.

[NurdlyPeon]

This is the camels nose in the tent. If you let the nose in, you might as well accept that the whole camel is going to be in there eventually.

[campaignPete R-CT]

Nero’s fan club think they’ve found a home at FreeRepublic.

Or are they the Stasi?

[Jacquerie]

So true. Catholics at FR don’t insult Protestant sects, which BTW have largely embraced the LGBTQ agenda.

[miss marmelstein]

Anyone who knows anything about Catholic theology, knows that the priest who hears such a confession is required to demand that the perp turn himself in. Otherwise, there can be no forgiveness and the sacrament is null and void. But here we go again - every day and any day.

[miss marmelstein]

I should say if the perp refuses or doesn’t turn himself in, there can be no forgiveness.

[NorthMountain]

Why would FReepers demand that our relationship with God be policed by the State?

Some people worship the State as though it were 'god'. That attitude is not confined to the political "left".

[sphinx]

I'd be ok with breaking the confessional seal … as long as we also revoked all attorney client privilege. In fact, let's do it retroactively and start charging criminal defense lawyers as criminal co-conspirators. Once we've done that, let's go after medical privacy, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and all therapists.

That's a thought experiment, not a serious suggestion. But it's something that should be raised whenever the left tries to attack traditional and well established privacy rights.

[Stravinsky]

California is trying to destroy Christianity, in all its forms.

[GingisK]

All you have to do is buy Indulgence. Its the Catholic way to go.

[trebb]

Confession is not a get off scott free with no guilt scam, is it?

Sure it is - hold onto some beads and say a few prayers and it's like the murder never happened and the child abuse was just an unfortunate mistake....they forget that, while God makes final judgement, His children are to be subjected to the laws of men while they inhabit the earth...

[kosciusko51]

I hope you see the irony in your post.

[sparklite2]

You have it backwards. The real question is why should
a nation’s laws be dictated by the head of a foreign state?
Not only that, but dictated from a walled compound where open borders are preached, and with a disposition to hide the very crimes under consideration?

[marajade]

What did the Catholic Church expect civil authorities to do? The Catholic Church should have been doing the right thing from the very start, but did they? No. The Catholic Church hid criminality.

[marajade]

Great idea. It is not biblical anyway.

[marajade]

What you are saying is: blame the victim.

[sparklite2]

people worry that what they tell their priests will end up in police data banks

---

Then let them carry the weight of their crimes around with them. What kind of inhibition is toothless forgive and forget?

[miss marmelstein]

Your thought experiment, as good as it is, is coming up against the usual bigotry expressed on FR towards Catholicism. No common sense or knowledge allowed.

[marajade]

Yep. And that is one of the biggie reasons why the reformation happened.