Catholic use of confession to be scrutinised by child abuse royal commission

[rug]

Church argues obligations to report child sexual abuse should not extend to divulging information given in confessional

Australian Associated Press
Saturday 4 February 2017 20.45 EST

Whether what is heard in the confessional box should continue to stay there will be considered by the child sexual abuse royal commission as it again turns its focus to widespread offending in the Catholic Church in Australia this week.

The former Victorian priest Paul David Ryan, jailed in 2006 for 18 months for indecently assaulting one victim, revealed during a 2015 private hearing that he confessed his sexual activity with adolescent boys to his confessor on multiple occasions.

Asked if that was the way he reconciled his actions with God, he said: “Yes. Well I thought I was. I know that was very seriously flawed.”

Over the next few weeks the royal commission will look at issues such as the sacrament of confession, celibacy, how priests and religious are selected, trained and supervised, and the church’s structure and governance as it examines why child abuse was so prominent in Catholic institutions.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/05/catholic-use-of-confession-to-be-scrutinised-by-child-abuse-royal-commission

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jpl/article/viewFile/32421/18894

[Bill Fishlore]

1. We've seen worse

The seal of the confessional has contained all sorts of admissions of murder, rape, child molestation etc. Laws requiring reporting of abuse have excepted doctors, lawyers and priests for secular, not theological reasons. Before removing those confidentiality classes, lawmakers should consider what will be lost and weigh it against putative gains. I don't think this is a good idea.

[rug]

2. There was a similar lawsuit in Louisiana last year that upheld the seal.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/louisiana-court-upholds-priests-seal-of-confession-rights-48236/

There are many policy reasons, as you say, almost all secular, to uphold the evidentiary privilege.