Australian Anglicans abandon their “seal of ‘confession’. Trouble to follow.

WDTPRS ^ | July 5, 2014 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[NYer]

The pressure will now rise, since Anglicans have betrayed Christian tradition and history (again).

Never mind that the Church of England has cobbled up a rite of baptism that omits any reference to the Devil (HERE), now we have this from CNW:

Anglicans in Australia abandon seal of confession for serious crimes

Anglican leaders in Australia have unanimously approved a proposal to abandon the confessional seal, authorizing priests to disclose information about serious crimes such as sexual abuse.

The General Synod in Australia, meeting on July 2, passed an amendment to the Anglican canon on confessional secrecy. The change must now be approved by individual dioceses, but Anglican leaders said that they would press for that approval.

The confessional seal has been a subject of tense political debate in Australia, with Catholic Church leaders insisting that it is inviolable. Their Anglican counterparts approved a proposal that would allow priests to disclose sins if they involved criminal offenses that would carry a penalty of more than five years’ imprisonment, and the penitent had not already confessed to police.

Frankly, we don’t need to care much about what Anglicans do, internally to their ecclesial community (not Church – HERE) since they are just shooting blanks over there on the other side of the Tiber. They do not have valid orders and do not validly absolve or confect the Eucharist.

That said, pressure will now be turned up on Catholics to do the same.

[narses]

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ “

[rwa265]

If you or anyone else is interested, a good explanation of the history of the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be found here:

http://www.resurrection-catholic.org/learn/sacraments/reconciliation/history_reconciliation.pdf

[Rashputin]

So, thrown the book of John out now, too?

The number of people who claim to believe in "Scripture Alone" and refuse to accept what Scripture says (even the Luther Subset of Scripture they've retained) is absolutely amazing.

[Campion]

I hope that story is apocryphal. I think seminarians are generally educated to know that you never give out any information that would connect an individual penitent (”first in the box”) to the content of their confession (”adultery”).