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July 8, 2019
Catholic San Francisco
Legislation that would require priests to break the seal of confession has been pulled indefinitely from consideration in the California Legislature, less than a day before the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on it, according to the California Catholic Conference.
“We just got word from the capitol – Senator Hill pulled his bill from the Assembly Public Safety Committee. This bill will not be heard tomorrow, July 9. No other information at this time,” Linda Wanner, associate director for governmental relations with the conference, said in email July 8.
Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jerry Hill of San Mateo, Senate Bill 360 would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they learn when hearing the confession of a co-worker or another priest. It passed the Senate May 23 by a 30-4 vote. The Assembly had been expected to vote on it in September.
SB 360 has proved divisive since it was introduced in February, with priests and bishops stating they would go to jail before complying with the bill. The Archdiocese of San Francisco participated in a state-wide letter writing campaign rallying Catholics to write their representatives about the legislation.
According to the archdiocesan Office of Human Life & Dignity, more than 18,000 letters were hand-delivered to state Assembly members’ local district offices June 28 during Religious Freedom Week. The archdiocese had also chartered buses to bring Catholics to Sacramento to attend the Assembly committee hearing on SB 360.
Sen. Hill's office said the decision to pull the legislation came after Hill learned his bill did not have enough support to pass the Assembly committee. He requested the bill be taken off the schedule Monday.
In a press release, Sen. Hill said he would continue to champion SB 360 and hoped he could gain more support for it from other lawmakers. “Senate Bill 360 has one purpose only, not to restrict faith, but to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable of the faithful: children,” he said.
“To be clear, I have placed SB 360 on hold. The bill is on pause, it has not been withdrawn," he said.
An analysis of SB 360 prepared for the Assembly's Committee on Public Safety, which was scheduled to hear SB 360 on July 9, raised serious questions about its constitutionality and practicality.
According to the analysis, SB 360 could conflict with the First Amendment right of freedom of religion, since it "would require conduct that some religions prohibit, namely for clergy members to break the seal of the confessional." Additionally, the committee document said the law could be argued to be "not neutral, but rather, hostile towards a religious practice."
The practical difficulties of enforcing the law also came into play in the committee's analysis. Enforcing the law would generally depend on penitents admitting they confessed child abuse to a priest and proving the priest knew he was hearing the confession of a co-worker or another priest.
The analysis also questioned whether the bill was incentivizing clergy "to violate a religious oath in order to avoid incarceration." Failure to report known or suspected child abuse for a mandatory reporter is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine, or both, while breaking the seal of the confessional incurs automatic excommunication.
"It is difficult to imagine what priest would chose to be excommunicated rather than serve a maximum of six months in a county jail," it said.
In a June 29 letter, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone thanked priests of the archdiocese for supporting the letter-writing campaign.
“As American citizens and Catholics, you spoke up for religious freedom, not just for Catholics, but for all people of faith who are protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” the archbishop wrote in his letter.
The seal of confession is sacrosanct and an “unbreakable guarantee” for penitents, the state’s bishops say.
“SB 360 would take away from priests and from everyone who works with priests in parishes and Church agencies across the state the full right to confess their sins with the assurance of confidentiality,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a letter to the faithful issued June 17.
On July 1, the head of the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary released a note reaffirming the inviolability of the seal of confession and the importance of other forms of secrecy in the life of the church.
The text followed action by governments in Australia, California, and other parts of the world, to undermine the sacramental seal.
“The defense of the sacramental seal and the sanctity of confession can never constitute some form of connivance with evil, on the contrary, they represent the only true antidote to evil that threatens man and the whole world,” states the note signed by the head of the penitentiary, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza July 1.
Visit KeepTheSeal.com for more information and how to make your voice heard on SB 360.