Sacramento, Calif., Jul 9, 2019 / 08:00 am (CNA).- A California bill that would have required priests to violate the seal of confession has been withdrawn by its sponsor the day before it was to be debated in committee.
California Senate Bill 360 was removed Monday from the agenda for a meeting of the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee scheduled for July 9. The decision by the bill’s sponsor, state Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), came just hours after the Public Safety Committee released a report on the bill July 8. That report raised a number of First Amendment concerns with the proposed legislation.
The bill, which passed the state senate in May by a wide margin, would have required a member of the clergy to violate the seal in some circumstances, if they learned about child abuse while hearing the confessions of other priests or Church officials.
In addition to religious liberty objections, many – including the Public Safety Committee report – noted that the bill would be almost impossible to enforce. Hill’s decision to drop the measure also followed widespread public opposition to the proposed law. Over 100,000 Catholics sent letters voicing their opposition to SB 360. After the senate vote in May, Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland issued a statement saying that neither he nor any of his priests would abide by the law if it came into effect.
“I will go to jail before I will obey this attack on our religious freedom,” wrote Barber in May. “Even if this bill passes, no priest may obey it.
The California Catholic Conference put out a statement Monday welcoming the withdrawal of the bill as a victory for religious freedom.
“This outcome is good for the Catholic people of California and for believers of all faiths, not only in this state but across the country,” said Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles in a statement.
“SB 360 was a dangerous piece of legislation. It was a threat to the sacrament of confession that would have denied the right to confidential confessions to priests and tens of thousands of Catholics who work with priests in parishes and other Church agencies and ministries,” he added.
Gomez thanked those who worked against the bill, including the “many faith leaders” from around the United States.
“It is a beautiful thing to stand together with our brothers and sisters in the apostolic churches of the Catholic and Orthodox East, with Baptists and Pentecostals, Anglicans and Lutherans, Muslims and Jews, and the Church of Latter Day Saints,” he said.
Hill had previously claimed that “the clergy-penitent privilege has been abused on a large scale, resulting in the unreported and systemic abuse of thousands of children across multiple denominations and faiths.”
The senator also claimed that such abuse had been revealed through “recent investigations by 14 attorneys general, the federal government, and other countries.”
Despite recent investigations into the clerical sexual abuse crisis in different countries and jurisdictions, no data exists establishing or indicating the use of sacramental confession either to facilitate or perpetuate the sexual abuse of minors.
Per Canon Law, priests who violate the seal of confession by sharing anything learned within the sacramental context to anyone, at any time, for any reason is subject to automatic excommunication and and further punishments, including loss of the clerical state.
On July 1, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary (which handles cases related to the seal of confession) issued a document underlining the “intrinsic requirement” of total secrecy regarding the sacrament of confession. The document as widely received as a response to efforts by governments in California and other jurisdictions to attack the sacramental seal.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
The Catholic Church is a criminal conspiracy! It needs to be shut down once and for all, in the name of all those abused, murdered, stolen from, and lied to for thousands of years
a)You’re quite wrong, and
b)You can’t spell.
You might want to reconsider your hatred of the Church that Jesus Christ founded, and that is the pillar and foundation of truth.
Oh look, an anti-Catholic Troll has crawled out of his basement to vent his anger, bigotry and hatred. You sir, are in dire need of therapy, and perhaps an exorcism.
If you were to make s sincere confession
yourself Martin L. You would soon see that
Jesus knew what He was doing when he
instituted this cleansing Sacrament.
Because of His promise to mankind you
now know, through the action of the priest,
that God HIMSELF has forgiven you.
Not a bad deal at all.
It’s good to see that this proposed law has been withdrawn because of – among other reasons – widespread opposition.
But – they’ll be back.
the priest could withold forgiveness for a repeat offender of kids if he did notseek help then the priest could tell the police.
No, he could not tell the police. He can’t tell anybody, ever, for any reason.
Discussed this with a devoutly Catholic friend…(Australian). He believes that a priest would not forgive a person who confessed to child abuse, rape or murder, and that the person would have to admit his crimes to the police before he would be forgiven.
I think not. He can tell the penitent he ought to do so but he must forgive that person if he confesses and is sorry.
When will the State of California, atheists, and secularist begin to understand that the practice of religion is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights contained in the U.S Constitution? When will the California Legislature and the State Attorney realise that such a law would also violate the separation of Church and State provision of the First Amendment? Passing such a law would inevitably lead to it being challenged before the Supreme Court of the United States at the immense expense to the state’s taxpaying public.