The priest himself must maintain the seal. If I was a priest in this situation, I would rather pay the price here on earth than the price this would cost me in the hereafter.
My point was not that the priest should be forced to violate this beliefs, but rather, that when the secular authority and a matter of conscience are in conflict, you must sometimes be willing to pay the price for your beliefs.
Even Scalia, who has generally been favorable to church/state issues has written [for the majority] that the religious protection in Amendment I is not an absolute protection against temporal consequences.