New Australian Law Requires Priests to Break Seal of Confession to Report Admissions of Child Abuse

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Does anyone know what the Catholic demographics are in that Australian state (or whatever kind of jurisdiction it is)? I know theres a sizable Catholic minority in Australia as a whole and I can’t imagine many of the faithful being happy about this. This is a direct attack on our faith. I don’t care how close a politician is to my political beliefs, if this were to happen here in the United States I’d be writing a letter to each and every one responsible for this travesty promising my utmost efforts in getting them primaried.
 
Let’s stop with the knee jerk reactions. Wait and see how the Catholic Diocese responds , and how the Magisterium responds.

There is. 9 month turn around on this . And no doubt it’s a test case for the rest of the country.
 
Where or why it is said that the fact whether a person had made the confession about a crime to you(that much only Police can ask to the priest) or not, should not be disclosed even if required under the law of the land?
 
ACT is not a state, it is the Australian Capital Territory. It exists as the seat of Australian Government . It is a Territory within the State of New South Wales. However it is a stand alone Territory.

en.m.wikipedia.org

Australian Capital Territory - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
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Case dismissed on technical ground as malafide investigation. Haha.

The priest most likely would figure out that the Confession is fake, a prank, which he can use in his defense as to why he did not entertain it to report to the authority.
 
Alex337 said:
To save a child, possibly multiple children from an abuser. My hat goes off to such a man who would put the safety of a child before their own vocation. I would pray that they find another way to help people.
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There is absolutely zero proof this would save anyone, since as I already mentioned above, people who commit these crimes and don’t turn themselves in do not usually go running to confessionals seeking absolution. It’s highly likely that they do not tell anyone, not a living soul, that they are out there abusing children and they only get stopped when either a victim comes forward or they are caught in the act of abuse.

But, y’know, go ahead and feel all noble about it if you like. It’s a political ploy and nothing more or less than that.
 
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AlbertDerGrosse said:
Does anyone know what the Catholic demographics are in that Australian state (or whatever kind of jurisdiction it is)? I know theres a sizable Catholic minority in Australia as a whole and I can’t imagine many of the faithful being happy about this. This is a direct attack on our faith. I don’t care how close a politician is to my political beliefs, if this were to happen here in the United States I’d be writing a letter to each and every one responsible for this travesty promising my utmost efforts in getting them primaried.
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As I’ve previously said, I can’t pre-empt the response from the Diocese, apart from (1) They won’t stop hearing confessions, and (2) They won’t break the seal.

The Catholic demographic in the ACT is about the same as the rest of Australia, ie. “a sizable minority”, as you say. They will be split like any similar group of Catholics. Most will not care or will be in favour of mandatory reporting. Only a small group will be strongly opposed. They will probably be waiting for the bishop take the lead. I like your suggestion that they (indeed all Australian Catholics) should be taking an active stand against this.
 
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The ends do not justify the means. Just because an intrinsically immoral act may have good consequences doesn’t make the intrinsically immoral act any more morally acceptable. It is good to want to save people from immoral deeds but it is immoral to break the seal of confession.
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I don’t think it’s an immoral act.
 
Not only would it be likely for police authorities to make false confessions to priests to seek to entrap him, it is also likely that actual abusers who never confessed to a priest would make false allegations saying that they did confess to a priest, as a vendetta against the Church.

In any case, what good is a confession mad anonymously going to do?
 
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Roseeurekacross said:
Let’s stop with the knee jerk reactions. Wait and see how the Catholic Diocese responds , and how the Magisterium responds.

There is. 9 month turn around on this . And no doubt it’s a test case for the rest of the country.
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Yes - it doesn’t come into effect for another nine months, and we don’t know exactly how the diocese will respond.

Yes, it is likely a test case for the rest of Australia.

No. It is not a “knee jerk” reaction to comment on the whole situation as it has ramifications for all Australian Catholics, or to comment on the options available to the diocese and the Church in Australia, as these are limited by Canon law and Catholic dogma.

ps. I called the ACT a “state”, in inverted commas, as a close approximation for all practical purposes. It is self-governing.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
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Alex337:
To save a child, possibly multiple children from an abuser. My hat goes off to such a man who would put the safety of a child before their own vocation. I would pray that they find another way to help people.
Click to expand...
There is absolutely zero proof this would save anyone, since as I already mentioned above, people who commit these crimes and don’t turn themselves in do not usually go running to confessionals seeking absolution. It’s highly likely that they do not tell anyone, not a living soul, that they are out there abusing children and they only get stopped when either a victim comes forward or they are caught in the act of abuse.

But, y’know, go ahead and feel all noble about it if you like. It’s a political ploy and nothing more or less than that.
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If they wouldn’t then this won’t even come up. So that’s cool.
 
So what other confessions should a priest break the seal for?
 
For your penance… turn yourself into the authorities. Yeah, priests can’t do that either.
 
I can’t imagine why the government would think this would help reduce child sexual abuse.
Looking from a criminals perspective,wouldn’t they think “if I go to confession they will tell the police” so won’t the end result just be people who have abused children avoiding confession altogether?
 
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