Priests Defend Confidentiality of Confession Against Proposed [Vermont] State Law

Aleteia ^ | 3/8/23 | John Burger

[marshmallow]

Vermont is the latest state trying to remove priest-penitent privilege to combat sexual abuse.

The latest attempt to force members of the clergy to report information they learn in confidential settings is taking place in Vermont, and the sole Roman Catholic bishop in the state appeared before a legislative committee to argue against that effort.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont, and two other Catholic priests sought to assure legislators that it’s possible to both protect vulnerable children and preserve religious liberty at the same time.

Since the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal started making headlines in the early 2000s, quite a few state and federal governments have tried to eliminate exemptions to mandatory reporting laws that protect the clergy-penitent exemptions.

A bill introduced by Vermont State Senator Dick Sears, a Democrat from Bennington, would repeal the Green Mountain State’s exemption for clergy. Sears’ bill would remove language such as this from the state’s mandatory reporting law:

“A member of the clergy shall not be required to make a report under this section if the report would be based upon information received in a communication that is:

(1) made to a member of the clergy acting in his or her capacity as spiritual advisor;

(2) intended by the parties to be confidential at the time the communication is made;

(3) intended by the communicant to be an act of contrition or a matter of conscience; and

(4) required to be confidential by religious law, doctrine, or tenet.

“Wickedness”

Bishop Coyne, appearing before the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee in Montpelier, the state capital, on March 3, said that Sears’ bill “crosses a Constitutional protective element of our religious faith: the right to worship as we see fit.”

The legislative change effectively would require priests to violate the sacramental seal, sometimes called the seal.....

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Ignore.

[Ken Regis]

1 Jn 1:9

[Ransomed]

I don’t think any of these laws have ever been used. I’ve never even seen a description of how they are supposed to work in practice from the people who bother to create them. It’s weird.

FReegards

[Ge0ffrey]

Flee Vermont. Run for your lives.

[Chode]

who the hell is gonna confess to that...

[Jim Noble]

The legislative change effectively would require priests to violate the sacramental seal

Play the man, Mr. Ridley.

[MeganC]

Does Vermont want to depose Joe Biden’s priest? What about Nazi Pelosi?