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

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yankeesouth said:
So what other confessions should a priest break the seal for?
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That would depend on what crimes are deemed most heinous at the time.

Adultery?
Drug use?
Parental neglect?
Slavery?
Treachery?

At least some of these can have as severe impact on children as clerical abuse, and there have been times when the state regarded treachery as the most heinous of crimes.
 
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Alex337 said:
Perhaps much like psychologists if the penitent shows no inclination of repeat offense confidentiality should hold.
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I don’t agree with the line you are taking in this thread, but I do respect the way you have approached this.

You comment here, in particular, could stand, if it weren’t for the theological issues of the Seal of the Confessional
 
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This will be tested not when the abuser confesses, but when a child in the course of confession mentions their abuse at the hands of another. A civil suit against the church will be made if the abuse is not reported, even though the information was revealed under the confessional seal.
 
They, as far as I can tell, can only talk about what they have heard in the confessional in the most general terms. They can say “I have heard a lot of people give too much information about sex sins” or “X, Y, and Z are often confessed, but many people don’t actually understand what the terms actually mean.” ( I don’t think they can describe the specific details of any particular confession)

I believe (and if I am wrong, please correct me) They aren’t even supposed to bring up anything said in Confession to a Penitent outside the confessional even if the two of them are alone, or that the Confession even occured.
 
but she may be in the position of putting herself (as an institution), or her priests (as individuals), in opposition to the law.
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Yeah so…
I cannot foresee how the Church will handle this.
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This wouldn’t be the first time the Catholic Church was at odds with government laws. And you don’t have to go back to the early Church. Communism, Mexico…
 
What was going on Mexico that was against the Church? I thought it was a predominantly Catholic country?
 
Lawyers do not have to tell the authorities if their client told them they are guilty. In fact, a criminal defense lawyer can be disbarred for doing so.

However, they cannot put any witness or the accused on the stand or in deposition or sworn affidavits and let them perjure themself if they know that person will be lying under oath. That is a crime in itself.
 
I was aware of the fact that they can’t broach the subject with penitents if they somehow figured out who they were in the confessional (recognizing the voice/perfume/word choice, etc.) but I’ve definitely heard priests make less generalized statements about their experiences in the confessional during their homilies. Just this last Sunday in fact Father said something along the lines of “This woman mentioned blah blah blah during confession…” and proceeded to use it to edify the rest of his sermon. This priest is quite holy so I just gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he knew what he was doing.
 
hmikell7 said:
What was going on Mexico that was against the Church? I thought it was a predominantly Catholic country?
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Mexico has a history of anti-clerical laws and persecution, including the revolutionary communist government (1920s and 30s) mentioned above by @yankeesouth.

I don’t know how this ties to Mexico being a Catholic country, and admit it’s quite a puzzle. I guess one part of it is that popular piety doesn’t always translate to loyalty to the institution.

I think similar stories apply in much of South America.

The Power and the Glory, by Grahame Greene, is a great novel!
 
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JimG said:
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Alex337:
If they wouldn’t then this won’t even come up. So that’s cool.
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It will come up when the the government uses fake confessions to entrap priests.
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Entrapment is against the law.
 
AlbertDerGrosse said:
…but I’ve definitely heard priests make less generalized statements about their experiences in the confessional during their homilies. …
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Yes, indeed.

I also suspect that much social teaching of the church, particularly on marriage and sexuality, includes blurred memories from the confessional.

Who wouldn’t notice trends in people’s most intimate moments?

I suspect it is one of the things which keeps Catholic priests more pragmatic than their Protestant counterparts.
 
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yankeesouth said:
So what other confessions should a priest break the seal for?
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Well my priest always tells me to seek contrition with the wronged party. I’ve not broken the law but I suspect they would tell me to confess to that as well as part of my contrition. Otherwise I’m not contrite.
 
Edmundus1581 said:
I don’t know how this ties to Mexico being a Catholic country, and admit it’s quite a puzzle. I guess one part of it is that popular piety doesn’t always translate to loyalty to the institution.
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I think it relates to the extent that at worst Catholic priests in AUS need to get ready to “take one for the team” as it were. Today in the 21st century I highly doubt (I highly hope!) that it would come to priests being shot dead in the streets like it was in Guadalajara in the 1920s, but we cannot deny that this law is inherently anti-clerical despite it being non-violent. I don’t know about you, but all the priests of Australia are objects of my prayers tonight during Compline.
 
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(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

You didn’t even click the link. (read: You didn’t even attempt to see the other side/compare your own beliefs to the teachings of the Church, which are opposing.)
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I’m sorry, I’m on my phone and it doesn’t lend itself to opening links (It usually blocks them; I’m really not a tech wiz). But I know my own morals and where I stand on these things and will happily read it later 😊
 
Edmundus1581 said:
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Alex337:
Perhaps much like psychologists if the penitent shows no inclination of repeat offense confidentiality should hold.
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I don’t agree with the line you are taking in this thread, but I do respect the way you have approached this.

You comment here, in particular, could stand, if it weren’t for the theological issues of the Seal of the Confessional
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Indeed. I admit I also think that if a penitent intends to commit the sin again then they are showing no evidence of contrition, it looks like a false confession. It would seem reasonable that a priest explain before confession that such sins require the person to whole heartedly have no intention of doing such again for it to be a legitimate confession.
 
Yes but what other confessions should a priest break the seal for? If the government wants to find a murderer? How bout treason as someone mentioned before? What about other things that could hurt a child…parents drug use?
 
Latin America, in general, has a thing for flirting with Marxism. I never understood that, even after three years of being a Spanish minor. It seems like every writer or artist I’ve encountered is a flaming Marxist.
 
Alex337 said:
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yankeesouth:
So what other confessions should a priest break the seal for?
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Well my priest always tells me to seek contrition with the wronged party. I’ve not broken the law but I suspect they would tell me to confess to that as well as part of my contrition. Otherwise I’m not contrite.
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I have had a couple of confessions where I was “told” to make amends which would have involved disclosing my sin. I asked the priest whether he was obliging me to the action, or whether it was a pre-condition for absolution, and he said no. Perhaps this is something they assume we know, that we actually don’t.
 
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