Confession and priests under threat in Utah

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This is happening in a few places globally. IN Australia, I believe, a couple of states already have this, and one state is ABD.
 
The deeper question then becomes, within a jurisdiction where such protections no longer exist, can absolution be granted under a state of omission? Or will one simply have to have faith that the priest will adhere to vows?

In any case, unless the confession is of face to face style, a traditional confessional box should suffice in maintaining anonymity.
 
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Yeah I would imagine anyone confessing child abuse would use the traditional confessional and remain anonymous. How would the priest know what to report even if he did know?
If I had to confess a heinous crime, such as say murder, I would probably travel to another diocese and make an anonymous confession… (NOT speaking from experience!).
 
The LDS Church has had huge scandals with sexual abuse.

In West Virginia former Mormon missionary Michael Jensen is serving 35 to 75 years for crimes against young boys.

One of the problems with the Mormon leadership structure is the lack of training. Every church is supervised by a bishop. But he hasn’t gone to seminary.

The LDS coverup has been huge. I think the Utah state government is creating a smokescreen to draw attention away from the LDS scandals.

According to Pew Forum, Catholics make up 5 percent of Utah’s population while Mormons make up 55 percent. What’s the bigger problem?
 
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Even so the priests now have to live in fear of a penitent coming in who did confess. Now they are in a bind.
 
Salt Lake City and the Democratic Party can still be liberal. It was a democratic lawmaker who was raised Catholic who is the sponsor of the bill. I believe most of the LDS lawmakers would be of the opposing party. The article states that the Mormon Church hasn’t taken a stance on the bill at the time of writing, but I would be surprised if they would be alright with it.
 
Blatantly unconstitutional. Similar laws were passed and struck down in Louisiana. Nothing to worry about here, let the justice system do its work if they try anything stupid.
 
It is the result of the sexual abuse which is also sad and unfortunate. I pray for a better century and growth of a true and holy church.
 
How likely is it that someone who committed this act would confess this? It would be rare, if at all, since the person is deviate and unlikely to realize the gravity of their act. As another said, how would the priest even know the person confessing in order to report him? I don’t believe the bill, if passed, would create a problem for a priest, but I agree that it is abhorrent to attempt to legislate it.
 
Reading the testimony of a few cases, it is more common then first thought. One priest said he confessed continuously and continued abusing children for several decades.
 
People propose bills all the time and they go nowhere. I am sure the Catholic organizations in Utah as well as probably ministers of other denominations will oppose the bill and it will die without making it to the voting floor. Disposing of privileges is not something the legal community takes lightly either, regardless of their religion, especially since they benefit from a big privilege themselves.

Given that it arose in Utah, the proposer may well have anti-Catholic motivations. Or he may just want to get his name in the papers. Either way, I have a hunch this is going nowhere.

And regardless of whether people confess child sexual abuse now (based on my experience, I don’t think many do), they sure won’t if they think it will go public.
 
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Servant31 said:
It was a democratic lawmaker who was raised Catholic who is the sponsor
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“raised Catholic” hmmm? What is he now?
Does he have some bone to pick with the Church? Probably thinks he knows better than the Church.
Such people need prayers.

Edited to add, it seems to be sponsored by a Representative Angela Romero.
Who also voted against the shortening of the abortion time window in Utah and tried to claim she still “respected life” despite voting no on the bill.
Yeah, tells me all I need to know. I really have to work on my charity when I read about such people and know they are Catholics.

 
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How would it work in their eyes?

Police: Did anyone report abuse this weekend?
Priest: No idea, I was in persona Christi, better ask Him.
Police: Come on now, you must have heard?
Priest: There was a curtain in the way and I don’t have fantastic voice remembering intelligence. I had 50 people come, if I say yes are you going to arrest them all?

It’s ludicrous.

Funny thing is when I reported abuse in my workplace by female boss buried it.
 
I too wonder how it would work if the person is confessing behind the screen. The priest would have no way of reliably identifying who’s in his confessional.
 
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