Sexual abuse of children and the seal of confession

March 25, 2019
Father Gerald D. Coleman, PSS
 
On Feb. 20, 2019, California Democratic State Senator Gerald “Jerry” Hill introduced SB 360, “Removing Clergy Exemption from Child Abuse and Neglecting Reporting.” The bill would remove an exemption in California’s “mandated reporter” law and would require all Catholic priests to reveal suspected sexual abuse of a child (ages 1-17) if the priest hears of this abuse in “penitential communication,” that is, confession. SB 360 also applies to confidential communication between a person and his or her religious minister, such as a rabbi or other clergy.
 
Hill believes that the “seal of confession” protects abusers and places children at risk. He insists that there should be no recognition in the law of the privileged nature of confession. A fundamental problem with SB 360 is that the proposed exception frustrates the privilege, and could swallow the rule and undermine the very reason for its existence.
 
The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law (983 and 984) states that the sacramental seal is inviolable; it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1467) teaches that every priest who hears confessions is bound to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. Canon 1388 states that a confessor who violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated. The 1973 Rite of Penance also reminds the priest, “As a minister of God the confessor comes to know the secrets of another’s conscience; and he is bound to keep the sacramental seal of confession as absolutely inviolable.”
 
The confessional seal safeguards the absolute right of an individual to secrecy about one’s own sins and guarantees that the church will hold this secret inviolable, that is, never to be broken, infringed upon or dishonored. Sacramental confession is understood as being made to God. The priest is there acting in the person of Christ. Consequently, the admission of sinfulness on the part of the penitent is made to God through the priest, and not the priest’s right to reveal. This makes confession a precious ministry of mercy. SB 360 aims at forcing priests to violate this seal and promise.
 
The bill was introduced the same week that Pope Francis called to the Vatican 190 Catholic bishops and religious superiors to study the “brazen, aggressive and destructive evil” in the church created by the sexual abuse of children by priests. Francis held that even one case of abuse is an “atrocity” and people are justified in their anger, a fury which is a “reflection of the wrath of God, betrayed and insulted by these deceitful consecrated persons.”
 
An enormous and clear-headed task is urgent to confront the clerical abuse tragedy. However, SB 360 is not a wise or helpful way to bring this about. If passed into law, SB 360 could jeopardize other civil laws in California which provide for and protect confidential communication such as those involving attorney-client privilege, doctor-patient privilege, spousal privilege protecting one from testifying against one’s spouse. Even though these examples allow for exceptions, they are well-established privileges in California law. SB 360 presents a monumental constitutional issue about the separation of church and state by curtailing religious freedom and opening the door to a slippery slope of corroding other civil protections.
 
People who confess their sins to a priest express their sorrow, resolve not to sin again, and ask for God’s mercy. Pedophiles and ephebophiles who sexually abuse children commit evil and unspeakable criminal acts. These people are notorious for hiding their crimes. They do not self-report. It is naive to believe that a person who sexually abuses a child will go to confession and seek forgiveness by telling the confessor his or her name. Nonetheless, SB 360 forces the priest to reveal what he most likely will never hear. SB 360 appoints itself an expert on religious practices about which it shows no insight, while not doing a thing to improve the safety of children.
 
The confessional is a sphere of sacred confidentiality.  We must resist the intrusion of civil authorities into this sacred domain of personal conscience and religious practice. SB 360 is a bad law which does nothing to protect children and loses the very rare possibility that a sex offender might repent, thus allowing the priest to counsel him to seek help from police and trained personnel, making the world a bit safer for vulnerable children. A civil law requiring a priest to breach the seal of confession in unjust (contrary to divine law and freedom of religion), ineffectual (as history amply testifies, priests are willing to suffer civil sanctions rather than break the seal), and self-defeating (ensuring child molesters will never confess their sins).
 
Sulpician Father Gerald D. Coleman is adjunct professor, Graduate Department of Pastoral Ministries, Santa Clara University.