Posted on 03/08/2023 5:56:05 PM PST by marshmallow
Washington state is debating legislation that would attempt to force priests to break the secrecy of the confessional for cases of child abuse.
SPOKANE, Washington (LifeSiteNews) — While two state legislatures debate bills that would attempt to force priests to break the secrecy of the confessional for cases of child abuse, a Catholic bishop affirmed that priests and bishops would rather suffer imprisonment than comply with such a law.
The state legislatures of Washington and Vermont are discussing bills on mandatory reporting of sexual abuse involving children. The bills would remove the clergy-penitent privilege, by which civil law acknowledges the absolute secrecy of the Catholic sacrament of confession. Bishop Thomas Daly of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, told the Washington Examiner in an interview this week that if the bill proposed in the state House, HB 1098, were enacted, the Catholic clergy would refuse to comply.
“Priests and bishops will go to jail rather than break the seal of confession,” the bishop declared. “I’m confident that the priests in [the Diocese of Spokane] and my brother bishops would do that, so sacred is that bond.”
Daly affirmed that the seal of confession is non-negotiable for a priest, drawing attention to the fact that most secular institutions recognize the importance of the confessional seal and respect it as something inviolable.
“I am troubled if someone seems to think that this is negotiable,” he told the Examiner. “I worry that that bond of trust that people have given their life for would suddenly seem to be up for renegotiation.”
The bishop also questioned the motivation and rationale behind the bill, given that priests are already obliged to report child abuse outside of what they hear in the confessional. “Priests are already mandated reporters in all matters but the sacrament of penance,” the......
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
Law doesn’t do any good if the priest doesn’t know the identity of the person confessing. This is why confessional booths hide the confessing person.
Hmm...how could you prove it?
Typically penitents come to the priest more or less anonymously. However even if the confession is done outside the booth the same privacy rules hold.
I still can’t find in the bible where it states you confess your sins to some guy in a box. It’s always been my understanding that you go straight to the top, no middleman needed.
The main result of this would be that pedos, knowing they could be turned in, would stop going to confession. It would also put the camels nose under the tent to force priests to reveal everything they hear in confessions.
If you’re not Catholic and you’re not willing to learn what Catholics really believe about it rather than caricatures, don’t worry about it. It’s none of your business.
Yep.
Remember "No Smoking?"
It started with just elevators.
Common sense you know...
.
You know what do can’t find in the Bible? The part that says everything important is in the Bible.
The topic is an increasingly tyrannical government trampling on Americans’ first amendment right to speak to a clergyman without Big Brother listening in, not your skill as an exegete, or lack thereof.
If a perp confesses something criminal, the priest has every right to tell him to turn himself in. People who mention sexual abuse in the confessional are usually the _victims_, not the perpetrators.
That's right.
People who mention sexual abuse in the confessional are usually the _victims_, not the perpetrators.
That may or may not be true (I doubt priest-confessors keep these kind of statistics and only they would know), but the issue here is when pedo's do confess.
My mother tried to shove that crap down our throats. None of us bought it. But typical answer when you have nothing to stand on except a bunch made up stuff with no biblical basis.
Why would victims "confess"? They didn't sin, their abuser is the one who sinned.
I don't attempt to engage people on matters concerning the faith who speak about it in mocking terms. I'll have a respectful conversation with anyone who is likewise respectful. But I realize for some people that's a lot to ask.
Then the same should apply to the attorney-client privilege. Let me know when they start trying to change that.
Fine with me. My initial post was not addressed to you, you responded to my post.
It may be what you were saying, but the priest should make turning oneself in to authorities a condition of being forgiven.
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