Abuse scandals bring challenges to seal of confession

United States along with four other countries introduce laws to force priest reporting

Published: July 15, 2019

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

CNS / Chaz Muth

Father Timothy J. Mockaitis, pastor of Queen of Peace Church in Salem, Ore., and penitent Ethan K. Alano of Salem demonstrate how a confession is conducted May 3.

CNS / Chaz Muth

Father Timothy J. Mockaitis, pastor of Queen of Peace Church in Salem, Ore., and penitent Ethan K. Alano of Salem demonstrate how a confession is conducted May 3.

The SEAL of CONFESSION

Part 1 of 3

Vatican: Secrecy of confession must never be violated

VATICAN CITY — In the light of “a worrying negative prejudice” against the Catholic Church, Pope Francis ordered the publication of a document affirming the absolute secrecy of everything said in confession and calling on priests to defend it at all costs, even at the cost of their lives.

The need for the absolute secrecy of confession “comes directly from revealed divine law and has its roots in the very nature of the sacrament to the point that no exception whatsoever can be admitted in the ecclesial sphere and even less in the civil one,” a new Vatican document said.

The “note of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the sacramental seal” was approved by Pope Francis June 21 and published by the Vatican July 1.

The note was signed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with matters of conscience.

Some recent challenges to the secret of confession have come from states trying to react to the Catholic Church’s clerical sexual abuse crisis, the note acknowledged. The document did not mention any specific proposed legislation, such as that working its way through the California legislature or proposed in Australia in response to a government inquiry into the sex abuse crisis.

“The priest, in fact, comes to know of the sins of the penitent ‘non ut homo sed ut Deus’ — not as a man, but as God — to the point that he simply ‘does not know’ what was said in the confessional because he did not listen as a man, but precisely in the name of God,” the Vatican document said.

The new Vatican document also placed the question of secrecy in the larger context of a “cultural and moral ‘involution’” that seems incapable of “recognizing and respecting” essential elements of human existence and life in the Church.

The note from the Apostolic Penitentiary said the secrecy extends to communications between a person and his or her spiritual director when dealing with matters of conscience. In fact, it noted Church practice that spiritual directors of seminarians, like their confessors, are not permitted to intervene in seminary staff discussions about whether a candidate should be ordained.

— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Part 2: ‘Dangerous’ California bill withdrawn on seal of confession

WASHINGTON — For centuries, the Catholic Church has maintained that what a penitent says to a priest in the confessional is strictly confidential, but in 2019 that rite continues to be challenged by governments.

Church scholars assert the concept of the seal of confession was given to the apostles by Jesus, eventually morphing into the sacrament of penance, providing the faithful with an opportunity to confess their sins and to be reconciled with God.

The soul-cleansing, sacred practice is private, confidential and repeatable.

Governmental leaders have challenged the priest-penitent privilege of the seal of confession since at least the 14th century, prompting priests to sacrifice their freedom and sometimes their lives protecting that confidentiality.

In the wake of renewed attention on the clergy child sexual abuse scandals, 21st-century lawmakers in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Chile and the U.S. have introduced measures that would compel priests to report to civil authorities information related to child abuse and neglect learned in the confessional.

“There are many reasons why we are seeing challenges to the seal of confession today,” said Father Ronald T. Kunkel, theology professor at Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois, near Chicago.

The Church has suffered “self-inflicted wounds” to its reputation and credibility from the clergy sex abuse crisis, making the seal of confession vulnerable to governmental intrusion, Father Kunkel told Catholic News Service in an April interview.

“There have been terrible sins and crimes that have been committed, including by members of the hierarchy,” he said. “But, I think in many cases this is being used as an excuse in order to further marginalize the Church in our society today.”

That reaction has been echoed by countless theologians, canon lawyers, priests and penitents throughout the U.S., particularly in California, where a bill making its way through the state legislature that attempts to amend its mandatory reporting laws to require priests to provide civil authorities with information about child abuse or neglect confessed by priests or co-workers during the sacrament of penance.

Critics of that legislation, S.B. 360, call it governmental overreach that clearly violates religious freedoms enjoyed in the U.S., as well as its tradition of separation of church and state. Some also fear that authorities could send someone in to confess to abuse in order to prosecute the priest for failing to report it.

Supporters of the California bill say it closes a loophole in a law that provides cover for pedophile priests — and other criminals — who receive absolution from the sin of child sexual abuse without being held accountable by society. They believe it emboldens such penitents to continue to victimize others.

Laws making it an offense for a priest’s failure to report the confessions of child sex abuse have already been passed in three Australian states and similar acts are being considered in Chile.

“I think it’s worth noting that the mandatory reporting statutes, the clergy-penitent privilege, and the seal of confession, these three doctrines if you will, are all in tension with each other,” said Mary Graw Leary, a professor of law at The Catholic University of America in Washington and a former prosecutor specializing in the abuse and exploitation of children and women. “They all serve very positive social goods. But, these kinds of circumstances bring them in tension with each other and it’s a very difficult problem to solve.”

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, told CNS that the Catholic Church obliges all of its members to act in accordance with local civil law on mandatory reporting.

The seal of confession, however, remains inviolable and is not affected by the new norms.

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse issued a report in 2017 recommending the Catholic Church change the Code of Canon Law to allow priests to break the seal of confession when a penitent confesses to the sexual abuse of minors.

That recommendation also has been championed by Father James E. Connell of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a canon lawyer, who says protecting the innocent should be the Church’s first priority.

However, Father Connell seems to be in the minority of Catholic clergy and canon lawyers advocating for such a change in Church law.

“There is no indication the Church will change canon law regarding the seal of confession” and it shouldn’t, said Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, a canon and civil lawyer who teaches at St. Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park, Calif.

In the sacrament of reconciliation, the penitent is communicating with God himself and the priest is simply acting as an intermediary, Father Pietrzyk told CNS in a May interview.

“The priest may never act as if that information is his,” he said. “It is a terrible affront to God and it’s a terrible affront to the dignity of the penitent.”

There is no evidence that laws requiring priests to report child sexual abuse heard in the confessional will actually protect children, said Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, a psychologist and expert on the spiritual and psychological health of priests, who is a theology professor at The Catholic University of America.

It would be rare occurrence for a pedophile to confess the sin of child sexual abuse, Msgr. Rossetti told CNS in April.

There are currently seven U.S. states that have laws requiring priests to report criminal information gained in the confessional, which are New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.