[bethelgrad]

I've never heard about a circumstance such as you described, only actual sins commited. I spent last summer with two priests who were adamant that they would not could not divulge any information regarding dialogue between themselves and a parisioner. The Navy Chaplain Corps concept of privileged communication is based on the RCC model.

You may be right though, I've just never heard that as an exception.

[NJ_gent]

"I've never heard about a circumstance such as you described, only actual sins commited. I spent last summer with two priests who were adamant that they would not could not divulge any information regarding dialogue between themselves and a parisioner. The Navy Chaplain Corps concept of privileged communication is based on the RCC model. You may be right though, I've just never heard that as an exception."

Those types of situations were always the ones explained to us questioning little rascals in Catholic school (in later years, of course). At the time, it was a little difficult to grasp the nuances of the whole thing. Perhaps the clearest example was that of murder. As it was explained to us, if you confessed that you had murdered someone, the priest could do nothing regarding that particular revelation beyond strongly counseling you to confess to authorities. However, if you were to tell a priest (in confession or otherwise) that you were going to murder someone, then the priest must do whatever he can to prevent that from happening. That could include telling the intended target, but would generally involve telling police.

Of course, we had to come up with every possible hypothetical situation to see if we could 'trick' the poor priest into painting himself into a corner. Perhaps my favorite was the ever-popular "can God make a rock so heavy that even He can't lift it?". I'm betting that by now, they must teach that question to all the new priests.