The Seal of Confession

[Elizabeth502]

You seem to be taking what I’m saying as that every priest watches the obituaries and has press releases ready when he spots one of his regulars has died. Most priests won’t discuss a confessions content even after a person dies. Most priests I know or have known won’t even acknowledge a Confession ever took place!

You’re exaggerating what I said. I never implied that it would be that calculated.

However, I’m certainly glad about those last 2 sentences you wrote. And that’s the point I was making, and assuming: that technically “freed” or not, the ‘spirit’ of confidentiality would nevertheless permanently remain.

No, I never thought that priests follow obituaries for this purpose.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Bro Rich did not say that the death of the penitent removes the obligation of secrecy.

Please refer to post #5.

 

[passus]

Please refer to post #5.

What Br. Rich did say was:
*
Most priests even though would not discuss the matter in any way unless the person was deceased (emphasis mine).

*“The matter” = “The name of the person who made confession, the date it was made, where it was made”

The OP goes on to clarify: “It does not say WHAT was confessed.”

Nowhere was spilling sins mentioned except in your post.

 

[Elizabeth502]

What Br. Rich did say was:
*
Most priests even though would not discuss the matter* in any way unless the person was deceased (emphasis mine)*.

*“The matter” = “The name of the person who made confession, the date it was made, where it was made”

The OP goes on to clarify: “It does not say WHAT was confessed.”

Nowhere was spilling sins mentioned except in your post.

O.K. Well there’s really no need to get exercised about it. The post I referred to did not say “confessional” matter; thus I thought about it in a more general/generic way as “topic” or “event.” I.m.o, post #5 was vague. You then go on to quote the OP, when I was not referring to the OP’s statement, but to post #5. It was just unclear, that’s all.

 

[kage_ar]

(I cannot believe you think i would lie about this–your post certainly implies that you do not think I am being truthful. Are you that nice to everybody who asks a sincere question?)

.

Thank you for posting the title and author’s name.

Quick trip over to the dictionary will demonstrate the word “alleged” CAN mean doubtful, but, that is not the only meaning

dictionary.reference.com/browse/alleged -

al⋅leged

**–adjective **1.declared or stated to be as described; asserted: *The alleged murderer could not be located for questioning. *2.doubtful; suspect; supposed: *The alleged cure-all produced no results when it was tested by reputable doctors. *

 

[passus]

You then go on to quote the OP, when I was not referring to the OP’s statement, but to post #5. It was just unclear, that’s all.

Well, I quoted the OP because, you will notice, the poster of #5 quoted the OP and so we would have to assume that what the poster of #5 was referring to in quoting the OP the way he did was indeed what the OP said.



Sorry if I came off strong.

God bless.

 

[Writer]

(I cannot believe you think i would lie about this–your post certainly implies that you do not think I am being truthful. Are you that nice to everybody who asks a sincere question?)

I wouldn’t call it alleged, I know the priest and he was selling the books after Mass a few weeks ago. His name is Father Timothy Mockaitis and the book is called “The Seal: A Priests Story”. You can buy it here www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=53719 and here www.borders.com and www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com
I was concerned about buying the book because I thought that maybe I would be doing something wrong by reading a book about this man’s confession. He did not consent to it being taped, Father Tim certainly did not consent to it being taped and is still upset over the matter. Thankfully the confession was not heard in court, but that was their goal when it was recorded. Father Tim is a great priest and I know he would not intentionally ever break the seal of confession…now that Fr. David has explained how the seal works I understand better how Father Tim was able to write and publish this book.

I ran across this post and just wanted to set the record straight. Father Tim is our priest, and I own his book. In no way, does Father Tim ever disclose anything of the confession. Even though this information is available in the newspaper files, he never included that information in his book. I haven’t read the entire book as yet, but I did listen to his presentation and have asked him some additional questions. It’s a good book, and we’re very happy to have him as our parish priest.

 

[FrDavid96]

I ran across this post and just wanted to set the record straight. Father Tim is our priest, and I own his book. In no way, does Father Tim ever disclose anything of the confession. Even though this information is available in the newspaper files, he never included that information in his book. I haven’t read the entire book as yet, but I did listen to his presentation and have asked him some additional questions. It’s a good book, and we’re very happy to have him as our parish priest.

Thank you for clarifying that. Any priest willing to “go to bat” for the Sanctity of the Confessional must be a good priest.

 

[kage_ar]

I ran across this post and just wanted to set the record straight. Father Tim is our priest, and I own his book. In no way, does Father Tim ever disclose anything of the confession. Even though this information is available in the newspaper files, he never included that information in his book. I haven’t read the entire book as yet, but I did listen to his presentation and have asked him some additional questions. It’s a good book, and we’re very happy to have him as our parish priest.

Thank you. I had a feeling from what I’d seen that there was a different story here than a priest writing a tell all book

 

[xyneshia]

Thank you. I had a feeling from what I’d seen that there was a different story here than a priest writing a tell all book

If I made it sound like Father Tim wrote a “tell all book” I apologize to all. I tried to be specific about that. If I failed at that I am really sorry. Like I said in a previous post, he is an excellent priest–I really, truly, honestly did not understand how the book could be written given the seal of confession.
As it turns out I misunderstood what the seal of confession is. I thought it was so strict that a priest I have confessed to could not even mention to me that he heard my confession and knowing what a good and upright priest Father Tim is, well, I wondered how the book could be written.
Now that I better understand what the seal of confession is, it makes perfect sense to me. Thank you FR David for explaining it to me
Again if any of my previous posts in any way sounded as though I was bashing Father Tim or that he wrote a “tell all book” I apologize.

 

[xyneshia]

Thank you for posting the title and author’s name.

Quick trip over to the dictionary will demonstrate the word “alleged” CAN mean doubtful, but, that is not the only meaning

dictionary.reference.com/browse/alleged -

al⋅leged

**–adjective **1.declared or stated to be as described; asserted: *The alleged murderer could not be located for questioning. *2.doubtful; suspect; supposed: *The alleged cure-all produced no results when it was tested by reputable doctors. *

You’re welcome, and I am sorry if I jumped on you for your using the word “alleged” I guess you meant it one way and I took it another. No hard feelings?

 

[xyneshia]

I ran across this post and just wanted to set the record straight. Father Tim is our priest, and I own his book. In no way, does Father Tim ever disclose anything of the confession. Even though this information is available in the newspaper files, he never included that information in his book. I haven’t read the entire book as yet, but I did listen to his presentation and have asked him some additional questions. It’s a good book, and we’re very happy to have him as our parish priest.

Hi Writer, I know, and think I included in my original post that Father Tim did not include what the penitent said in his confession in this book. I want to read the book but had a concern that needed to be addressed first.

I had thought about asking Father Tim how this book could be written but afraid a question like *that *coming from a nobody like me to a priest like him might have hurt his feelings.

My intent here was to try to better understand how the seal of confession works.

I know that Father Tim would never break the seal. I simply did not understand HOW a book like this one could be written without doing so.

I did not mean to ask my question in such a way where you felt obligated to have to defend Father Tim. If I did ask it that way please forgive me. You are right, he is a great priest with great respect for all the sacraments.

What happened to Father Tim, and the man whose confession he heard, is totally inexcusable. I remembered when this happened and was on the news for weeks. He certainly did all in his power to make sure that the confession was not heard in court. If he had not fought as hard as he did, who knows, maybe it would be common place to record confessions of suspects for court evidence today?

I see so many of the persons on the forum here write with such wisdom and knowlege that I assumed most every one here would be old enough to remember when this happened and so did not explain in as great of detail as I could have. I wont make those types of assumptions in the future.

Thanks to each of you who replied to my question, for answering and for tolerating my ignorance. It seems that it will take me a lifetime to learn as much as I should about the Catholic Faith.

 

[kage_ar]

You’re welcome, and I am sorry if I jumped on you for your using the word “alleged” I guess you meant it one way and I took it another. No hard feelings?

Heck no, it is 70 degrees in Feb and the daffodils are in bloom. All is good.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Well, I quoted the OP because, you will notice, the poster of #5 quoted the OP and so we would have to assume that what the poster of #5 was referring to in quoting the OP the way he did was indeed what the OP said.



Sorry if I came off strong.

God bless.

Hey, no problem, passus.

 

[FrDavid96]

If I made it sound like Father Tim wrote a “tell all book” I apologize to all. I tried to be specific about that. If I failed at that I am really sorry. Like I said in a previous post, he is an excellent priest–I really, truly, honestly did not understand how the book could be written given the seal of confession.
As it turns out I misunderstood what the seal of confession is. I thought it was so strict that a priest I have confessed to could not even mention to me that he heard my confession and knowing what a good and upright priest Father Tim is, well, I wondered how the book could be written.
Now that I better understand what the seal of confession is, it makes perfect sense to me. Thank you FR David for explaining it to me
Again if any of my previous posts in any way sounded as though I was bashing Father Tim or that he wrote a “tell all book” I apologize.

You had a perfectly legitimate question, and came here for some answers. Nothing wrong, and everything right about that. For what it’s worth, I never took your post to mean that you thought it was “tell all book”

You did NOT misunderstand the seal of the confession. It’s as absolute and inviolable as you have always thought it was. The only point that needed to be made was that it wasn’t the priest who was violating the seal, but the others who recorded it, and listened to it, and tried to bring it up in court, and anyone else who was a party to the violation.

 

[Writer]

Hi Writer, I know, and think I included in my original post that Father Tim did not include what the penitent said in his confession in this book. I want to read the book but had a concern that needed to be addressed first.

I had thought about asking Father Tim how this book could be written but afraid a question like *that *coming from a nobody like me to a priest like him might have hurt his feelings.

My intent here was to try to better understand how the seal of confession works.

I know that Father Tim would never break the seal. I simply did not understand HOW a book like this one could be written without doing so.

I did not mean to ask my question in such a way where you felt obligated to have to defend Father Tim. If I did ask it that way please forgive me. You are right, he is a great priest with great respect for all the sacraments.

What happened to Father Tim, and the man whose confession he heard, is totally inexcusable. I remembered when this happened and was on the news for weeks. He certainly did all in his power to make sure that the confession was not heard in court. If he had not fought as hard as he did, who knows, maybe it would be common place to record confessions of suspects for court evidence today?

I see so many of the persons on the forum here write with such wisdom and knowlege that I assumed most every one here would be old enough to remember when this happened and so did not explain in as great of detail as I could have. I wont make those types of assumptions in the future.

Thanks to each of you who replied to my question, for answering and for tolerating my ignorance. It seems that it will take me a lifetime to learn as much as I should about the Catholic Faith.

Thank you for your kind words, and I’m sorry if I jumped to conclusions, as well!

 

[Queen_of_Peace]

I responded in another place but will do so here as well. I recently came across this forum and have noticed that various discussions have gone on about the book I’ve written and whether it was appropriate for me to do so. The name of the book is: The Seal: A Priest’s Story and relates the true event from the secret tape recording of a prisoner’s sacramental confession, the personal struggle of my self and others, a defense of the sacrament itself, and the litigation through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Foreword is written by Cardinal George of Chicago and President of the American Bishops Conference. No light weight who clearly felt it was good for me to write this unique story. Those who have read it have found the book a consistently good read both for their rights as American citizens and as people of faith who live under the protection of our First Amendment. More information can be found on: www.xlibris.com/theseal, or on Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. The sacramental seal is respected throughout the story (hence the name of the book) and it offers a compelling read for Catholics and non-catholics alike, for attornies and student of law, and for those interested in a dialogue on the value of religious expression and the power of grace in one’s life. Bottom line, the story is not about the confession but about the violation and its profound significane between church and state.

Fr. Tim Mockaitis
Author: The Seal