Efforts to force
Catholic
priests to reveal admissions of child abuse heard in the confessional, the location where the sacrament of reconciliation is heard, are a threat to
religious liberty
.
Delaware and Vermont legislators are debating bills that would do away with what is called the “seal of confession,” a
teaching
of the Catholic Church that forbids priests from divulging what is heard during confession, when a Catholic shares his or her sins with a priest and seeks absolution.
BISHOP SAYS PRIESTS WOULD RATHER GO TO JAIL IF STATE REQUIRES VIOLATION OF CONFESSIONAL SEAL
This threat to religious liberty should be concerning regardless if someone disagrees with what the Catholic Church teaches about the sacrament.
Both bills explicitly state that the only goal is to remove the rights of priests.
“This Act abrogates the privilege between priest and penitent in a sacramental confession relating to child abuse and neglect,” Delaware House Bill 74
states
. “It requires priests to report child abuse and neglect or to give or accept evidence in a judicial proceeding relating to child abuse or neglect.”
Vermont’s version avoids any language that would protect a priest’s duty to keep private information heard in a confessional. Senate Bill 16
eliminates
exceptions for information “made to a member of the clergy acting in his or her capacity as spiritual advisor,” “intended by parties to be confidential,” “intended by the communicant to be an act of contrition or a matter of conscience,” and “required to be confidential by religious law, doctrine or tenet.”
While it is not clear if anti-Catholic animus is behind this legislation, it is also unclear what this bill would accomplish besides targeting Catholic priests for further questioning and forcing them to choose between going to jail or breaking a sacred promise they made never to divulge what is said in confession. A priest who shares what someone told him in confession is automatically excommunicated, forbidden from accessing the other sacraments.
Outside of the sacrament, priests are
already required
to report suspected abuse, according to bishops in both Delaware and Vermont. Similarly, church staff such as youth ministers and teachers are also required to report suspected abuse.
“The sacrament of confession and its seal of confession is a fundamental aspect of the Church’s sacramental theology and practice,” the Diocese of Wilmington
said
.” “It is nonnegotiable. … It would be a clear violation of the First Amendment for the government to interfere in this most sacred and ancient practice of our faith.”
A Catholic bishop in Vermont expressed similar concerns about his state’s proposed bill. Bishop Christopher Coyne testified that the state’s legislation “crosses a constitutionally protected element of our religious faith: The right to worship as we see fit,” according to Catholic News Agency.
This problem is not just in blue states.
Texas
, for example, does not have an explicit exemption for Catholic priests, nor does
North Carolina
, according to an analysis of clergy-penitent privilege laws. However, this
analysis
of the laws on penitent-clergy privilege in 2017 identified only one case in Texas, and that involved a Methodist minister, not a Catholic priest.
The constitutionality of Texas’s law has yet to be tested when it comes to the sacrament of reconciliation.
Currently,
33 states
exempt priests from mandatory reporter laws only as it relates to confession — and not in other circumstances, such as if a priest hears about abuse outside of the confessional.
Delaware and Vermont can protect children from abuse while also safeguarding the religious liberty of priests to carry out their faith. Catholic priests have rights, too, and they are deserving of protection.
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Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix and has previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
