Posted on 06/18/2018 6:27:42 PM PDT by marshmallow
'When the state tries to intervene on our religious freedom, undermine the essence of what it means to be a Catholic, we will resist'
South Australian priests have said that they would rather go to jail than break the seal of the confessional to report child abuse.
South Australia has passed laws extending mandatory reporting to priests notified of paedophilic actions, even if it would require them to break the seal of confession. After a recommendation from the Royal Commission, other states are considering enforcing the law as well. However, many priests are rejecting this idea, stating they will not do anything that violates their beliefs.
“The state will be requiring us as Catholic priests to commit what we regard as the most serious crime, and I’m not willing to do that,” said Fr Michael Whelan, a priest at St Patrick’s Church Hill in Sydney.
Fr Whelan said he does not believe the Church is above the law but rather places his faith before all else.
“When the state tries to intervene on our religious freedom, undermine the essence of what it means to be a Catholic, we will resist,” Fr Whelan said.
Fr Whelan expressed concern regarding how they would enforce such a law and how authorities would know if priests are reporting or not. Fr Whelan also proposed an alternative, saying instead of forcing priests to break the seal of confession, if a child abuser confessed, he would try to step in and “stop them immediately.”
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicherald.co.uk ...
Yep, because only the “gotcha cops” are going to enter a confessional to confess a fake crime to trap a Priest.
You are probably right. Pray for our priests daily.
God bless them! Stand tall men!
Although I’m no expert in such matters it seems reasonable to me that a priest would insist that a person (let’s say “man”) who confesses to having sexually abused somebody report the incident to the police for full absolution.But to *require* a priest to report such things to the police...no way!
Going to jail in this cause is a good idea.
- It is a sort of martyrdom.
- It is a public witness to faith
- It is a unique way to be a missionary in the sort of place that could especially benefit.
The seal of confession is absolute. A confessor cannot require the penitent to reveal his sins to a another person.
I would really like to know how many people involved with child sex ever go to confession.
They brought this on themselves.
Catholic Church sex abuse cases by country
And the full extent of their crimes is unknown even today.
I don’t think that would work as one has to confess aggravating factors as well— things which make the sin worse.
It depends on what counts as evidence as breaking this dumb law, I mean are they going to go with hearsay, a recording, or what? So depending on that, if this law is broken, can it then be used in civil cases for financial damages by the allegedly abused?
Freegards
Evil deeds committed by evil people justify abridging the rights of the innocent? David Hogg, is that you??
The nuns taught me that there are two types of sins..."mortal" sins,which can send you straight to damnation and "venial" sins,which can't.I was never told about "degrees" of mortal or venial.I can see where in "typical" situations the priest would want details but this would be anything but typical.
“Evil deeds committed by evil people justify abridging the rights of the innocent”
Your organization committed crimes against children worldwide, over decades (that we know of), and refused to police itself or tell authorities who the abusers were. Then they shuffled around the abusers into fresh fields for the abuse to continue against more children.
The state has an overriding interest in protecting children and Rome refused to do so.
Here we are.
Rome brought this on itself.
Tell me, what is acceptable to authorities as evidence of a priest breaking this law, a recording, hearsay or what? I have yet to read an account of how enforcing this law is supposed to work, which seems like kind of a low threshold to ask of the reporting of this story.
Freegards
It’s absolutely clear that a priest cannot, under any circumstances whatsoever, no matter the consequences to himself, others, or even the whole world, reveal anything, in any manner, sinful or not, told to him in confession. What’s more, if anyone overhears another person’s confession, they, too, have the exact same obligation not to reveal it.
What may be more likely than a person who is abusing someone confessing it, is that a person reveals to a priest that they, themselves, were sexually abused by someone else. Even then, the priest may not reveal it to anyone. Even if it is a child’s parent who is committing the abuse.
But what they can do is say to the penitent “you know, because you’re telling me this in confession, I can’t do anything about it to help you. But after I give you absolution, your confession will be over, and if you tell me this again, then I’ll be able to get you the help you need. So if you want, just stay here in the confessional a little longer and tell me again, and I’ll do everything in my power to protect you.”
I don’t know what is required in Australia...
The story would be better with an explanation.
Every dumb story is like this that I have read so far. Not one lays out how this is supposed to enforced, which seem to me to be a pretty low threshold of reporting. Even the Catholic articles that are obviously against it don’t spell it out, I haven’t even seen the actual wording of the law. Maybe that is because it isn’t in the excerpted portions of the article posted on FR.
Freegards
The big question (to me) is: does the confession to a priest result in the guilty person being absolved of the sin if he is repentant, and being placed back in the good graces of the church???
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