Posted on 03/28/2023 6:09:21 PM PDT by marshmallow
Fr. James E. Connell sued several states to remove legal protections for the seal of confession and recently wrote an op-ed endorsing a bill to repeal Delaware’s clergy-penitent privilege.
MILWAUKEE (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stripped a priest of his faculties to hear confessions after the priest publicly endorsed a bill that would force Catholic clergy to break the seal of confession.
In a statement issued March 22, the archbishop stated, “Sadly, I have learned that Father James Connell, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee who is now retired from active ministry, has continued to disseminate false information about the sacramental seal of confession. He has publicly advocated for the removal of the legal protection of the confessional seal, suggesting there are situations where it is permissible to violate it.”
Connell had published an op-ed in USA Today titled, “Why Delaware’s clergy-penitent privilege law should be repealed.” In the essay he argued that “all people in Delaware should support the proposed HB 74 that would repeal the Delaware clergy-penitent privilege statute.”
Claiming that the seal of silence for the Catholic sacrament of confession is a shelter for abusers, endangers victims, and is rooted in an absence of truth, the priest stated that “no valid freedom of religion argument rooted in the absence of truth can provide a moral justification for sheltering perpetrators of abuse or neglect of children from their deserved punishment, while also endangering potential victims.”
He went on to endorse government intervention to coerce priests into revealing what is confessed by penitents, saying, “governments should intervene such that, while perhaps frustrating the free exercise of religion for some people, the greater good of protecting children from abuse or neglect would be enhanced for the common good of all people.”
The archbishop denounced the........
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
Seems some of the given sanctities of the Catholic Church are falling apart because there is no leadership in Rome. Much like the American Cultural Way of life, America has no leadership in Washington.
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