Posted on 03/20/2019 6:37:58 PM PDT by marshmallow
OK ... if you want to abolish attorney-client privilege, at least you're consistent. I utterly disagree, of course. Attorney-client privilege, like the Fifth Amendment, and like the confidentiality of confession before either of them, exists to protect ALL of us, not just people who may be guilty of serious crimes.
Jesus told us to also obey our mortal/governmental “leaders” because they were sanctioned by God.
OK. Turn over those Jews. Abort your second child. Rat out your neighbor's "unsocialist" thoughts. Government Almighty, which you believe has been granted plenary power over everything, tells you to do these things.
You are all over the place today
Nonsense. I am consistently defending religious liberty and limited government.
In a more serious vein...if a penitent knew his act of penance would be used against him in court he likely would not confess. Is this not a direct interference with the free exercise clause.
Yes!!
I’ll never tell anything potentially damaging again.
I dont have any like that to tell.
But I did 20 years ago.
Now why take the chance?
The seal of the confessional goes back further than the priest scandal. If a priest violates thus seal he will automatically be excommunicated and no longer a priest. He can’t even say that so and so went to him in confession. If a person feels that his confession isn’t confidential, then he or she will not want to go.
Many religions have their own inner rules that are not mentioned in the Bible. The seal of the confessional is a good, necessary thing and the secular government has no authority over it.
The seal of the confessional goes back further than the priest scandal. If a priest violates thus seal he will automatically be excommunicated and no longer a priest. He can’t even say that so and so went to him in confession. If a person feels that his confession isn’t confidential, then he or she will not want to go.
Many religions have their own inner rules that are not mentioned in the Bible. The seal of the confessional is a good, necessary thing and the secular government has no authority over it.
You are exactly right.
This is a method for putting the good priests in jail and leaving the bad ones to continue their depredations. This is what happens when you ask the amoral (or immoral) secular authority to police the Church.
No they won’t. Any non Obama court will strike this down in a heartbeat. These priests have a higher authority to answer to.
As far as I can tell there doesn’t seem to be a way for a priest to deny they were told something the law mandates they have to report. They can’t say anything, they have to be mute. I guess the big question is if this will then be opened up in civil court.
“I told Fr. Smith I was being abused, he didn’t go to the authorities.” Fr. Smith doesn’t keep records that can be looked at like a therapist, seems to me it is just going to be hearsay with one side not being able to confirm or deny it.
Freegards
No, it won’t.
Then that’s not a confession of sins. You don’t go to confession for this reason. You go to cleanse your soul of mortal sins you have committed. I would imagine that once a person comes forward and spills the beans about what he said in a confessional, the seal would no longer apply in that case.
Many times the abused, especially children, believe it is their fault when they are abused. Of course they are wrong, but they could still bring it up in confession. I guess the solution is that the priest should tell them they should go to the proper authorities and to speak to the priest about it outside the confessional so the priest can help them do that. I think in many state priests are mandatory reporters outside the confessional setting.
I’m pretty sure priests can’t confirm or deny anything about a particular confession even if the person that confessed to the priest wants them to do so.
“Tell my boy friend when I was in for confession and what we talked about concerning my week at the beach.”
“Please tell these state police what I confessed and when, I am a spy for country x.”
So they just don’t get into any of it, at least to my understanding.
Freegards
This is incorrect. You may say whatever you want to about your confession, "A confessor once gave me this advice...". A priest can never acknowledge ever hearing your confession.
I stand corrected on that point. I’m sure the priest would know this better than me.
Wouldn’t the requirement for priests to reveal the content of confessions violate the Fifth Amendment protections against self incrimination.
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