CNA Staff, Feb 5, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).
Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly is urging Catholic voters in Washington state to oppose a proposed law that would order priests to violate the seal of confession in cases where child abuse is revealed during the sacrament.
The bill, proposed in both houses of the state Legislature, would amend state law to require clergy to report instances of child abuse with no exemption for instances where the abuse is learned during the sacrament of penance.
A 2023 version of the proposal offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned “solely as a result of a confession.” The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out.
State Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, told the Washington State Standard that the proposal was “a hard subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views.”
“I also know far too many children have been victims of abuse — the Legislature has a duty to act,” she argued.
Canon law stipulates that any priest who deliberately violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated. This week, Daly stressed his opposition to the measure, assuring the faithful that clergy “are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail.”
“The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane,” the bishop said.
Daly noted that the Diocese of Spokane devotes considerable resources to child safety and holds “a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse.”
The bishop said the diocese would follow the legislative process around the bill. He called for prayers “that our legislators will create sound law” that respects freedom of religion in the U.S.
“I strongly encourage the Catholic faithful of eastern Washington to call our state representatives and respectfully ask them to vote against this measure,” Daly wrote.
This is not the only recent effort to order priests to violate the seal of confession in an effort to combat child abuse.
A bill proposed in Montana earlier this year proposed to “eliminate clergy exemption in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect.”
Clergy “may not refuse to make a report as required … on the grounds of a physician-patient or similar privilege,” the Montana bill said. That measure stalled at committee in January.
In May 2023 Delaware legislators proposed a bill requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of reporting sexual abuse. A similar law was proposed in Vermont around the same time. Both bills failed to advance in their respective legislatures.
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No state or federal bill, regardless of whether it passes or not, cannot change the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Seal of Confession. If a priest were to break that seal deliberately, he would have to obtain an absolution from the Pope.
It figures that a bill like this would be introduced in Washington State, the only state that lurched even more left-ward in the last election.
Last I knew confession was anonymous. I have never provided my name or address. So, what exactly would the priest be reporting? Or do they expect our priests, the majority of whom are elderly, to physically restrain the person until legal authorities arrive. And do they really think that child abusers will pursue (the sacrament of) reconciliation once it becomes known that doing so could lead to their arrest? Not one child abuser will be apprehended under this proposed bill.
No child abuser may be caught but it’s a perfect way to set up priests for arrest.
I take exception to this use of the word “force”. It’s not like the way a kidnapper might force someone into a car by physically pushing the resisting person in. No: the priest would be given a choice, with the known consequences for obeying the state or obeying the Church.
If the priest really believes what the Church teaches, but is still willing to break the seal of the confessional, he is a coward. It is already clear that, given the choice between martyrdom and converting to Islam, he would not be earning any crown. But then, just a few years ago, Catholic clergy were willing to let their parishioners die without the sacraments for fear that they too might fall ill. St. Damien of Molokai, pray for us!
Perhaps, though, the priest is not a coward, but he does not believe the Church. I strongly suspect that is more widespread, but also that it is worse.