Posted on 01/13/2021 6:44:53 PM PST by marshmallow
North Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require priests to violate the seal of confession or face jail time in the state. The measure would remove the ministerial exception from mandatory reporting laws related to child abuse, requiring priests to report knowledge or suspicion of abuse even if it arose from the context of sacramental confession.
Senate Bill No. 2180, published on Jan. 12, would amend the state’s Century Code relating to mandatory reporting. It was introduced by state senators Judy Lee (R), Kathy Hogan (D), and Curt Kreun (R).
Under the current law, “a member of the clergy having knowledge of or reasonable cause to suspect a child is abused or neglected, or has died as a result of abuse or neglect, shall report the circumstances to the department if the knowledge or suspicion is derived from information received by that individual in that individual's official or professional capacity.”
A member of the clergy “is not required to report such circumstances if the knowledge or suspicion is derived from information received in the capacity of spiritual adviser,” a category that includes sacramental confession.
But SB 2180 would delete this exception, making it a failure to report suspected abuse or neglect, even if learned in the confessional, punishable by up to 30 days in prison and/or a fine of $1,500.
(Excerpt) Read more at pillarcatholic.com ...
Yet the Left would eagerly jail Project Veritas folks for daring to show Leftists for what they really are.
Reminds me of the verse :
"Choose ye whom you will serve,
Serve God,..or mamon "
As Dennis Miller said, “If I ever got into a confessional I’d say, “You First!””
Frankly, I don’t know how a priest — or anybody else — could justify keeping quiet if they were told that a child was being victimized by an abusive caregiver.
Keeping such a secret somehow seems enabling of the crime. Let’s protect the victims first... then we can deal with the perp in due course.
Catholics may wanna string me up for this, but I feel comfortable thinking that the Almighty would prefer getting our priorities in the proper order... which is stopping the crime first.
As far as fighting crime, this is totally useless. Once passed, the criminals will just stop confessing these sins.
So the only things it helps is further the government abuse of the church.
The real reason for this legislation is so that the pervert politicians can be voyeurs for the Glory-Hole escapades being committed by the Catholic Priests upon the penitents.
Great government movement to send priests to jail.
For a priest to violate the seal of confession is a mortal sin and automatic excommunication.
So they’ll have to choose death or jail rather than violate the seal.
That’s basically what this stupid law would mean.
You’re not going to get the, to change their mind on this nuisance law. It would be overturned in court as well and be regarded as extreme government overreach.
People thinking this is anyway good are plain ignorant of what Catholics believe. Yes it does mean Martyrdom for priests, possibly violence against the state as well.
Who gave you the authority ato sqy what God would or would not want Catholics to do.
Do you have any idea how ignorant of scripture and disrespectful you sound?
So for all you anti-Catholic bigots, you think it should also be mandatory for wives to testify against husbands? Psychiatrists against patients? Lawyers against their clients? There might be a lot of crimes in those conversations.
You are bigots.
I can’t find one example of these mandatory reporting laws ever being prosecuted anywhere for confessions, much less anyone supporting these laws actually explaining step by step how they envision it theoretically working in practice. Which seems like a pretty low bar to me. So what is up with the passage of these laws? Is it just symbolic political garbage or what?
FReegards
It's a difficult dilemma. Priests I have talked to admit that occasionally they feel as you do. But they are bound by their oats of obedience to the teachings of the magisterium of the universal church. In the context of the sacrament of confession, the priest is the intercessor and acts in persona Christi, and is vested with the power to grant the penitent absolution, which typically involves some act of contrition. None of this makes the priest God, or usurps the power of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ, but it provides a means for the dispensation of the grace of forgiveness and repentance. Because of the connection between the penitent and the divine nature of the blessed sacrament, the church asks for confidentiality.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am just a clunky convert, so I be wrong about some of what is discussed above.
The Nazis put microphones in the confessional booths.
How is this different?
In some cases psychiatrists are required to report right now.
Violating the Great Seal of confession is a sin against the Holy Spirit. Which is much worse than any sin against the 6th commandment, no matter how heinous.
The penance given for such heinous crimes against the innocence of children would normally include restitution. The penitent would not be absolved of his guilt unless he made restitution, which would include turning himself in to the authorities for punishment.
This is nothing new. Secular governments throughout history have attempted to compel confessors to break the seal and martyrdom is the final outcome.
A priest who did something like that would not be a priest for very long afterwards. Even absolving a co-conspirator in a sin against the 6th commandment is an automatic excommunication, as is soliciting for a partner in such a sin in the confessional, etc.
Assuming of course, that they are confessing them in the first place, which is a dubious proposition.
So people like you can lie and turn priests into the State for a reward. Your post is disgusting and shows a vile mindset and much time spent in public bathrooms.
So, did God declare that telling on a child molester is a mortal sin or did mortals who run the Church make that decision?
Per the Bible, there’s but one “mortal” (irredeemable) sin - to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
How many who think it’s sinful to take sexual predators off the streets would be as adamant if it were their own children who were molested?
Being the sick F***s they are, I can picture child molesters going into a confessional to gloat rather than repent.
Well, yes.
But some do.
Confession secrecy is actually huge in Catholic Church. There are saints, who prefered torture and death to revealing confessional secrets. So now, North Dakota is going to create many new saints?!
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