Confession questions about children

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Actually, if a child tells a Priest in the confessional that he or she is being abused, the priest can do something. This is not breaking the seal because it’s not the child confessing a sin. This has been discussed a lot here.
 
Yes, I agree there. I was speaking of the seal applying to your own confession.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Actually, if a child tells a Priest in the confessional that he or she is being abused, the priest can do something.
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No, he cannot. He cannot reveal anything that was said in confession that reveals the identity of the penitent who gave him the informaiton.
This is not breaking the seal because it’s not the child confessing a sin.
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It is. Check canon law – it doesn’t mention a distinction between who sinned and who was victimized. It does, however, mention that a priest who violates this command can be excommunicated.
 
This is and has been, a hot topic for discussion amongst the clergy here. The Archbishop made a statement about it.
I will try to find his speech tomorrow.
At present the Magisterium is looking into Canon Law and the seal on the Sacrament of Reconcilliation
Their results will be an interesting and eagerly awaited document.
 
I think the priest can ask, however, that the child tells him about this outside of confession so he can report it.
 
Re the Archbishop As soon as i find it. Tomorrow
The Magisterium began this process as a response to what can happen with the Royal Commission proposals, as soon as the report and recommendations were published
Now The church has a few months more to respond… re the seal of the Sacrament of Reconcilliation
 
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Fauken said:
I think the priest can ask, however, that the child tells him about this outside of confession so he can report it.
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No. Once he’s heard it first – in the context of the confessional – the seal governs. (If his first encounter is outside the confessional, however, he can report it – and often is required to do so, by the state.)

If it’s mentioned to him first in the confessional, his only recourse is to ask the penitent to follow up on his own, outside the confessional, as well as offer to support him in any way he wishes, in order to see justice served.
Roseeurekacross said:
As soon as it’s done! It’s a response to what can happen with these proposed laws. The church has a few months more to respond…
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Right. I’m looking for the call to action that you’re referencing… 😉
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Which one? The Archbishop or the Magisterium.
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Anything that supports what you’ve asserted here. (It’s news to me, so I’m interested. I haven’t seen anything that suggests that the Church’s response to the abuse scandal is a proposal to modify the rigor of the seal of the confessional…)
 
It’s not a proposal to modify anything. I did not say it was. However , Canon Law is not Dogma, it can grow.
The Magisterium Is studying that Set of Canon Laws to see what is actually said etc. This was announced to us here in Aus, in the first few weeks post the handing down of the Royal Commission recommendations and report.

Right now, all the news , church news, not the media, is about the redress schemes

As you might know, two states so far have said the law will come in that the Priest must break the seal and fall back to mandatory reporting. Everyone has until September / October to comment on this Law. And dialogue
 
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Confession booths vary. It’s common in the USA to have it be two little rooms separated by a screen so there’s no physical access between the two.

I don’t know if it’s helpful to mention this, but on busy Palm Sunday confessions I’ve seen priests do confessions out in the open, but a good distance away from everyone else, such that you could see two people talking but not hear anything. (This was because there were more priests than confessionals and hundreds of people coming to confess). I don’t know if it’s reasonable to ask a priest if they could do the confession this way in ordinary circumstances, but if you broach the issue politely… and if it’s not against any ordinary rules that I’m not aware of, and the priest doesn’t take offense, maybe he could accommodate? You’d be able to watch from a distance, but not hear. But then, how long do you keep this up?

I hesitate to mention this, if only because I don’t want to set expectations.
 
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Gorgias said:
If it’s mentioned to him first in the confessional, his only recourse is to ask the penitent to follow up on his own, outside the confessional, as well as offer to support him in any way he wishes, in order to see justice served.
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I believe that’s what I said.
 
Fauken said:
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Gorgias:
If it’s mentioned to him first in the confessional, his only recourse is to ask the penitent to follow up on his own, outside the confessional, as well as offer to support him in any way he wishes, in order to see justice served.
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I believe that’s what I said.
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No, it’s not; I think you’re misunderstanding what I wrote. I may not have been clear enough, so let me clarify: The confessor can’t ask that the penitent tells him outside the confessional. Rather, he can request that the penitent report it to someone else. The confessor can stand by to support the penitent, but cannot do or say anything himself to betray the seal.
 
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Does your diocese offer communal confessions at Lent and Easter? That’s the route we go with our children, and it seems like a good compromise.

It’s also less intimidating to them to see so many other people around them confessing.
 
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I wasn’t saying the poster was mentally ill. The posters said abusers were mentally ill and suggested a priest could stop them. A priest can’t tell a mentally ill person from a typical human sinner. That was my point.
 
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