Confession Question from my Boys

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SisterSnowflake

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OK, my tenth graders have another question!

We all know that a priest can’t reveal anything from a Sacramental Confession, even if threatened with death or execution.

Here’s the question:

If someone, during the Sacrament, confesses that he/she will kill someone/many people, or will complete some other terrible crime, is the priest able to do anything to stop it?

I can’t find an answer and knew somebody out there could help.

THANKS and God bless!

Sister H.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
OK, my tenth graders have another question!

We all know that a priest can’t reveal anything from a Sacramental Confession, even if threatened with death or execution.

Here’s the question:

If someone, during the Sacrament, confesses that he/she will kill someone/many people, or will complete some other terrible crime, is the priest able to do anything to stop it?

I can’t find an answer and knew somebody out there could help.

THANKS and God bless!

Sister H.
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A priest is not to use the information that he receives in the Sacrament of Confession in any way that might identify the person.

Can. 983~1 The sacramental seal is inviolable. Accordingly, it is absolutely wrong for a
confessor in any way to betray the penitent, for any reason whatsoever, whether by word
or in any other fashion.
~2 An interpreter, if there is one, is also obliged to observe this secret, as are all others
who in any way whatever have come to a knowledge of sins from a confession.

Can. 984~1 The confessor is wholly forbidden to use knowledge acquired in confession to
the detriment of the penitent, even when all danger of disclosure is excluded.
~2 A person who is in authority may not in any way, for the purpose of external
governance, use knowledge about sins which has at any time come to him from the
hearing of confession.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
If someone, during the Sacrament, confesses that he/she will kill someone/many people, or will complete some other terrible crime, is the priest able to do anything to stop it?
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Interesting… I don’t know, but I wonder if the fact that he’s “confessing” something not yet committed has any bearing on the answer.
 
Thanks, Brother.

Could the priest personally stop the crime (detain the person, invite the selected target to dinner at the time the crime is supposed to occur, etc.?); I know this all seems far-fetched, but 15 year old boys actually wonder about theses types of things! :eek:
 
SisterSnowflake said:
Thanks, Brother.

Could the priest personally stop the crime (detain the person, invite the selected target to dinner at the time the crime is supposed to occur, etc.?); I know this all seems far-fetched, but 15 year old boys actually wonder about theses types of things! :eek:
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I went off to grab the actual wording and inserted it. I personally believe that it might be possible for a priest to act without violating the seal.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
I went off to grab the actual wording and inserted it. I personally believe that it might be possible for a priest to act without violating the seal.
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I am wondering if it would even be considered a valid confession. After all the penitient is showing no contrition since he is contemplating carrying out murder. The priest would not in any way absolve the person. So, if it is not a valid confession could he not say or do something?
 
Joannm said:
I am wondering if it would even be considered a valid confession. After all the penitient is showing no contrition since he is contemplating carrying out murder. The priest would not in any way absolve the person. So, if it is not a valid confession could he not say or do something?
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I don’t think so. If you step back, there is really no such thing as an invalid confession. When one speaks to a priest for the purpose of making a confession, I believe that the seal is put into place. The priest can choose to not to give absolution but that does not invalidate the seal.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
I went off to grab the actual wording and inserted it. I personally believe that it might be possible for a priest to act without violating the seal.
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I don’t think he can. I think it violates 984 section 2 and breaks the seal.

I discussed the seal at length with an orthodox priest I trust very well and from what I recall, he told me he cannot so or do anything with the information he hears in confession without breaking the seal. If he does come by the information from a source outside the confessional, he can act on that but still cannot incorporate anything from the confession.
 
the movie I Confess (Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift as the priest) for once gets the details accurate in precisely such a situation. He cannot reveal the murderer who confessed to him, even though there is the threat of another murder, and even though the priest himself is implicated as a suspect. I would suggest it for your class, except that the sub-plot is that the priest’s alibi is being with his girlfriend. The point is he cannot take any action whatever based on the contents of what was heard in the confessional, or even act as if he has this knowledge.
 
One cannot confess somethign that one is PLANNING to do - be contrite and still do it.

The boys will come back with “the man set a bomb in the preschool and has no way to turn it off before it goes off in 6 hours”.

Here is the key, if this person is so sorry for this action that he will go to Confession, he would also call the authorities and report the crime. Someone who would not turn themselves in also would not bother with confession.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
OK, my tenth graders have another question!

We all know that a priest can’t reveal anything from a Sacramental Confession, even if threatened with death or execution.

Here’s the question:

If someone, during the Sacrament, confesses that he/she will kill someone/many people, or will complete some other terrible crime, is the priest able to do anything to stop it?

I can’t find an answer and knew somebody out there could help.

THANKS and God bless!

Sister H.
Click to expand...
I have dealt with this question every year from my CCD confirmation class. The simple and correct answer is: Yes and No. No, the priest would not be permitted to do anything as it would violate the seal and I mention the penalty for doing so. I then go on to tell them that because of this, they should never fear telling anything to a priest in confession. Hope that helps.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
OK, my tenth graders have another question!

We all know that a priest can’t reveal anything from a Sacramental Confession, even if threatened with death or execution.

Here’s the question:

If someone, during the Sacrament, confesses that he/she will kill someone/many people, or will complete some other terrible crime, is the priest able to do anything to stop it?

I can’t find an answer and knew somebody out there could help.

THANKS and God bless!

Sister H.
Click to expand...
You’ve already answered your own question when you said “a priest can’t reveal anything from a Sacramental Confession.” It’s that simple. No exceptions.

Even if absolution is delayed, the seal of the confession itself is absolute and inviolable. A priest can never say or do anything to betray the penitent–nothing at all.

The priest can counsel the person within the confession, or make himself available to the penitent outside of the confessional (in which case, the seal would still apply to anything said only within the sacrament).

It’s very important for 10th graders (and indeed everyone) to understand this, because although the scenario is a bit “far-fetched”, they need to understand that nothing can compel a priest to violate the seal. The teens need to know this because if they start to see “exceptions” to the seal, they will then begin to imagine other exceptions, and this could hinder their own free confessions.
 
This is slightly off topic, but its similar in respect to the question being asked, since it involves a serious crime or the possibility of one. Its something I’ve thought about a lot recently. I was raped at age 10, and the man who raped me was a practicing Catholic. I just started therapy, and only a couple of days ago asked my priest a very similar question… what would he do if a man confessed to him that he had raped a child, and might be doing it again? He told me he is absolutely not allowed to break the seal of confession, but that as part of the confession he would encourage the man to turn himself in to the authorities. He would possibly make the absolution conditional upon that or part of the penance being that the man turn himself in. But under no circumstances could he reveal what was confessed.
 
Hiyas:)

He can’t like stand in front of the bad person…shielding the other?

I mean, He wouldn’t have to say anything.
 
Susan_Calvin said:
He would possibly make the absolution conditional upon that or part of the penance being that the man turn himself in.
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As we have discussed many times here, that is not even possible. The Canon Law is clear, the Priest can never required the person to reveal him or herself, they may not make revelation a condition of absolution.
 
Just for clarity here, a priest can never compel someone to “turn himself in” as part of the penance. That violates the seal.

A priest is forbidden to give a public penance (one which would reveal the sinner’s identity or guilt), unless the sin itself is already a public one (in other words, the person’s guilt is already known).

Some examples:

If an abortion provider confesses and seeks absolution, the priest can compel that person to make public amends because the guilt is already public knowlege (anyone can see the sign outside the office, or read it in the phone book). But if the penitent’s guilt is not known, either because the crime hasn’t been detected, or the guilty party hasn’t been identified, the priest can never compel the penitent to reveal his guilt to anyone else.

For reference, see the Roman Ritual “Rules for Administering Penance” #22
He must not impose a public penance for sins that are secret, no matter what their enormity.
sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/26-the-sacrament-of-penance-general-rules.html
 
FrDavid96 said:
You

It’s very important for 10th graders (and indeed everyone) to understand this, because although the scenario is a bit “far-fetched”, they need to understand that nothing can compel a priest to violate the seal. The teens need to know this because if they start to see “exceptions” to the seal, they will then begin to imagine other exceptions, and this could hinder their own free confessions.
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Hi, Father…

The boys are going more along the lines of, “If someone tells you he is going to kill a bunch of people & you do nothing to stop it, you are bad/unethical/immoral/no good/a jerk.”

Like with Kimmie’s earlier comment, could the priest throw himself in front of the intended victim or could he call & tell everyone in the building that they need to get out without revealing why, & therefore, not actually revealing anything from the confession?

P.S. Thanks, everyone, for your comments! 🙂
 
SisterSnowflake said:
Hi, Father…

The boys are going more along the lines of, “If someone tells you he is going to kill a bunch of people & you do nothing to stop it, you are bad/unethical/immoral/no good/a jerk.”

Like with Kimmie’s earlier comment, could the priest throw himself in front of the intended victim or could he call & tell everyone in the building that they need to get out without revealing why, & therefore, not actually revealing anything from the confession?

P.S. Thanks, everyone, for your comments! 🙂
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Yeppers!!! that’s what we want to know.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
Hi, Father…

The boys are going more along the lines of, “If someone tells you he is going to kill a bunch of people & you do nothing to stop it, you are bad/unethical/immoral/no good/a jerk.”

Like with Kimmie’s earlier comment, could the priest throw himself in front of the intended victim or could he call & tell everyone in the building that they need to get out without revealing why, & therefore, not actually revealing anything from the confession?

P.S. Thanks, everyone, for your comments! 🙂
Click to expand...
The seal of the confession is absolute. It’s that simple. The priest can never do or say anything to reveal what he learned in confession. No exceptions.

Again, please keep in mind that the teens need to understand that nothing (absolutely nothing) can compel the priest to violate the seal. Teens often ask these kinds of questions because what they are really asking about is some example of their own sins (perhaps even sins that they’re contemplating or are tempted to commit). Making up these hypothetical situations is an indirect way of asking about themselves. We do this all the time in our society. “I have a friend, who’s in this situation…” usually means “I am in this situation, but I’m too embarrassed to admit it.” Followed by the listener rolling the eyes and saying “OK I’ll play along, tell me about your friend…” Even though they might be asking about murder (or some other example of an extreme sin which is “safe” enough that the teacher won’t think they’ve done it), they’re asking about themselves and their own very real sins.

What the teens are really asking is “at what point may the priest violate the seal of the confession and reveal to my parents/teachers/friends/etc. what I’ve confessed?” They need to know that the answer to that is a simple, unqualified “never.”

As for the part about the priest doing nothing to stop the future sin, that’s an opportunity to remind the teens that the person is confessing to Christ, not to the person of the priest, and that the priest cannot even reveal to himself what he learned in Confession.
 
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