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Australian law mandates reporting abuse admissions made in confessional
Catholic News Service via Crux ^ | June 8, 2018 | Contributor

Posted on 06/08/2018 1:51:23 PM PDT by ebb tide

SYDNEY, Australia - Laws requiring Catholic priests to break the seal of confession in some cases passed the Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly in Canberra June 7.

The purpose of the Ombudsman Amendment Bill 2018 was to expand the Reportable Conduct Scheme governing allegations of child abuse and misconduct to include religious organizations.

The legislation passed without amendment. The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has nine months to negotiate with the government on how it will work before the start of reportable conduct requirements.

Writing in The Canberra Times June 7, Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn said he supported the revised scheme, but would not support a requirement to break the seal of confession. He said such a requirement would neither help prevent abuse nor efforts to improve the safety of children in Catholic organizations.

Apart from the fact that child abusers do not confess their crimes to police or priests, such legislation would also threaten Catholics’ religious freedom, he wrote.

“The government threatens religious freedom by appointing itself an expert on religious practices and by attempting to change the sacrament of confession while delivering no improvement in the safety of children,” he said.

In April, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian called for the seal of confession to be addressed by the Council of Australian Governments rather than state governments in isolation.

“Our response to that recommendation (of the Royal Commission) is to take it through the COAG process. We believe that is the best way to deal with it,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“They’re complex issues that need to be balanced with what people believe to be religious freedoms,” the premier said.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic
KEYWORDS: australia; childrape; confession; pedophiles; rape; sexwithminors
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1 posted on 06/08/2018 1:51:23 PM PDT by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

Watch for phony “confessions” to be made about child abuse, just to see if the priests report them.

Then the priests can be prosecuted.

That’s the way the state begins its persecutions...

Hopefully the churches will not be short of those willing to accept the consequences of their faith — ie, martyrdom.


2 posted on 06/08/2018 1:57:48 PM PDT by CondorFlight
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To: ebb tide

I foresee sting operations to ensnare Catholic priests.

Meanwhile, the Oz equivalent of Planned Parenthood will continue to protect child rapists by performing abortions on underage girls without a word to the authorities.


3 posted on 06/08/2018 2:01:54 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=600>https://i.imgur.com/zXSEP5Z.gif)
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To: CondorFlight

Because we ALL know the Church never, ever, ever covered up a single case of child abuse.

Right?

L


4 posted on 06/08/2018 2:03:12 PM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: Lurker

That is not the point.


5 posted on 06/08/2018 2:04:40 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Lurker

“Because we ALL know the Church never, ever, ever covered up a single case of child abuse.”

This isn’t about covering anything up. The cover-ups do not begin or end in the confessional. This is about the state power encroaching where Western law never allowed it to encroach before - into the confessional.


6 posted on 06/08/2018 2:06:22 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: CondorFlight

There will be phoney confessions and if thy are well done without the common attitude of leftists making phoney confessions, they will send several priests to court. If any priest caves he will be defrocked. Most, properly all, will prefer to go to jail rather than betray the confessional. Rulers have passed such laws and made decrees in the past. It is not a new thing. Neither is martyrdom and there are new martyrs right along. The Church is up to this. But this Pope might grant a “dispensation” for such compromised confessions. I suspect that the priests so victimized will not even then break.


7 posted on 06/08/2018 2:20:38 PM PDT by arthurus (1/84)
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To: CondorFlight

Were the priests to comply with the ruler that would end Confession in the Australian Church.


8 posted on 06/08/2018 2:22:08 PM PDT by arthurus (5gt)
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To: Lurker

A priest can always withhold absolution until the penitent turns himself over to the civil authorities.


9 posted on 06/08/2018 2:26:54 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

The f*ckfaces on the left want nothing more than to destroy the Church. They think they can force the priests to choose between their faith and going to jail. ZERO of them will break the seal.


10 posted on 06/08/2018 2:32:33 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Voltaire: To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.)
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To: ebb tide

Not going to happen.


11 posted on 06/08/2018 2:39:41 PM PDT by IronJack (A)
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To: Jim from C-Town

That is both exactly the point, and why this passed. Had that not happened over and over and over again this law wouldn’t have been written. But it did and it was.

And when cases are proven, pedophiles need to be dropped into the depths of the sea chained to a millstone. Priests who knew need to be chained with them.


12 posted on 06/08/2018 2:42:12 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: MrEdd

That is not the way it is.


13 posted on 06/08/2018 3:02:52 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Jim from C-Town

“That is not the point.”

It’s exactly the point. Maybe if the church hadn’t functioned as the worlds largest ring of pedophiles for decades they MIGHT have reason to complain. But they did.

So they have absolutely zero room to complain.

They sowed this.

Now let them reap the harvest.

L


14 posted on 06/08/2018 3:03:59 PM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: CondorFlight

People should just confess to Jesus like they’re supposed to then, and then these priests won’t have to worry about entrapment.


15 posted on 06/08/2018 3:04:49 PM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: vladimir998

“This is about the state power encroaching where Western law never allowed it to encroach before - into the confessional.”

The church really protected all those kids when they were hiding known pedophiles for decades. That’s really showing respect for the law now, ain’t it.

The church could have done the right thing, defrocked these monsters, and handed them over to the authorities for prosecution. But they didn’t. In fact they actively engaged in a massive world wide conspiracy to cover it up.

If the church wanted the sanctity of the confessional respected THEY could have shown a bit of respect for the law AND the victims.

But they didn’t. So this happened.

As you sow so shall you reap.

You’d think all these holy types would have read that part of the Bible.

L


16 posted on 06/08/2018 3:08:04 PM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: ebb tide

“A priest can always withhold absolution until the penitent turns himself over to the civil authorities.”

Yea, that’ll show them.

Snort.

L


17 posted on 06/08/2018 3:09:20 PM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: ebb tide
I wonder what would happen if people in Australia would start saying “and I violated the 6th Commandment X number of times” and if the priest responds “could you be more specific?” the person says “for your protection and mine I cannot do so”.
18 posted on 06/08/2018 3:14:33 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (You Say "White Privilege"...I Say "Protestant Work Ethic")
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To: Jim from C-Town

Repeated cover ups for pedophiles is exactly the way it is.
Perhaps the Catholic Church might have considered that other people are not necessarily as tolerant of pedophiles as they are.

It is a continuing problem, and the rot lead to them having a pope like Francis. They earned him. He represents them perfectly.


19 posted on 06/08/2018 3:23:57 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: ebb tide

Won’t happen.

The priest’s to not want to go to Hell.


20 posted on 06/08/2018 3:30:10 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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