The Seal Of Confession Under Fire Again

From the Pastor:    The Seal Of Confession Under Fire Again

       Someone with political “power” wants to force Catholic priests to reveal what is said in confession. This type of evil comes up on an occasional but regular basis. It usually happens, at least at this time in history, supposedly “to protect the children.” I hate to point out the obvious, but once again it is a Democrat, Washington Senator Noel Frame, who has introduced such an evil bill. Why do I bring up his party affiliation? Because Democrats officially support killing children by the millions through abortion. They hardly have a moral leg to stand on when crying crocodile tears about how they want to protect the children that escape their mother’s wombs alive. They also openly accept and stridently defend those groups most often committing abuse against children. They are also the party that currently fights most vociferously against anything to do with unchangeable morals (that is, true and eternal distinctions between “good” and “evil”) and the God Who gives us knowledge of them as well as the grace to uphold them. Senator Frame has introduced a bill that, on the surface, is not aimed primarily against Catholic priests hearing confessions, for in it he includes as mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse “any minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder, or leader of a religious community” if the knowledge of ”suspected” child abuse is uncovered or discovered during their regular duties. Yet it is the Catholic priests, and out of this list only they, who have a moral obligation to keep secret anything that is heard in the confessional. None of the other “ministers” have anything even remotely similar to the Seal of Confession. The other “ministers” may each have something similar to the seal of confidentiality imparted to lawyers and their clients, spouses, and victims advocates (three groups, by the way, explicitly excluded from mandatory reporting in this bill). That is, they all have “jobs” or positions in which confidentiality is expected and which has been upheld in our laws and in our courts. But none of them has the Sacrament of Confession, something instituted by Our Lord Himself within His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church for the forgiveness of sins, the expiation of faults, the reconciliation of the sinner to God, the healing of the soul, and so much more. Therefore, claiming that all religious leaders are being treated equally is a far cry from the truth, even though it is also immoral for them to break the lesser degree of confidentiality.
       Questions on this topic come up on a regular basis from Catholics. Why is it bad, evil, or demonic if a Catholic priest reveals what he learns in Confession? Why worry about such a law unless you are a child abuser? Wouldn’t it save a child from further abuse if we did report child abuse of all sorts? I have, and I assume all of my brother priests have the same experience, answered these types of questions many times over the course of my priesthood. As a short explanation of how devastating it would be if Catholic priests—even if just a few—reported sins brought to them in confession, just think about this. Would you ever confess your sins to a priest again? “Sure,” you might think, “because if only a tiny minority of priests reported sins to the public authorities, chances are really good that MY priest won’t. He will, like most of the priests, go to jail or withstand every other civil injustice in order to protect the seal of the confessional. Besides, even the ones who broke the seal only reported sins that I have never and will never commit.” But who is to say that your priest won’t break the seal? Just because he hasn’t so far doesn’t mean he won’t. After all, maybe it is just that nobody has confessed anything that the law says must be reported. And remember that the law can be amended at any time to force him to report other sins as well, not just the ones it started with. Perhaps adultery will be added, with the caveat that it only needs to be revealed if a divorce trial is getting nasty. Or maybe cheating on taxes might be added to the list of sins that he must mandatorily report. Or use of drugs, or driving while intoxicated. Or, to “protect the children” maybe priests need to report homeschooled children if they confess to cheating on homework or lying to mommy about something. Oh, the list of sins later added to the mandatory reporting law could be endless. The law could also be retroactively applied, meaning priests would be forced to reveal what you confessed before that particular sin was inserted into the law. Perhaps they could also outlaw real confessionals like we have, in which the priest cannot see who the penitent is. Maybe mandate government-monitored audio and video recording devices inside the “reconciliation rooms” so there is proof of who committed the crime and even check to see if the priest reported it. Artificial Intelligence could monitor all priests 24 hours a day to uncover lapses in reporting if they hear confessions elsewhere. Does this sound like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory? If so, please tell me how it would be different if the law passes.

With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka