Can a priest force a cheater to confess to her school?

[Jersey_Jeepster]

I read an interesting scenario on a message board recently. A girl wanted to know if she confessed that she cheated on a test whether the priest could make her admit to cheating to the teacher or the school as part of her penance. In other words, could she receive forgiveness without having to turn herself in to the school? She is afraid to confess because admitting to the school that she cheated would almost certainly cause the school to nullify her degree. Is the type of penance up to the priest to decide, and can a priest direct someone to have to admit such a thing, under such dire consequences, to receive actual forgiveness?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Before moving on to answer your question, I do want to ask why it is assumed that having to face and accept the loss of a degree earned under false pretenses is a “dire consequence.” Cheating involves the theft of qualification in an academic discipline. Having to forfeit that qualification and re-earn it is not an unjust consequence, and certainly a priest could counsel a penitent to do so as a means of atoning for the sin.

But a priest cannot force a penitent to admit wrongdoing confessed under the sacramental seal to others as a condition of absolution. To do so is a violation of the sacramental seal. The penitent must repent having committed the sin, and must be prepared to accept a just penance for the sin, but cannot be forced to reveal the sin to others as a condition of forgiveness.