Catholic bishops of Washington have sued the state over the new law that would force priests to break the seal of confession regarding child abuse, claiming it violates the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The lawsuit explained how the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the Dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have gone beyond what is required by state law on reporting child abuse and neglect.
That’s not enough.
The new law adds clergy to those required to report child abuse. Members of the clergy include “any regularly licensed, accredited, or ordained minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder, or similarly positioned religious or spiritual leader.”
Here’s the thing, though. My research showed that the other clergy members can report crimes.
So, yes, Washington targeted Catholics with the new law.
The new law goes into effect on July 27. The law, as it stands now, exempts reporting child abuse when discovered via “privileged communication.” That includes “attorney-client privilege, the spousal privilege, the sexual assault advocate privilege, the domestic violence advocate privilege, and until July 27, 2025, the priest-penitent privilege.”
Yup. Washington is only removing the priest-penitent privilege.
“Information obtained through privileged communication by any supervisor in an organization other than clergy—including, for example, any non clergy member of a religious non-profit or any member of a non-religious nonprofit—remains excluded from the reporting requirement,” wrote the bishops.
For example, the law exempts those not named in the law, such as an aunt or uncle, who can report child abuse, but the state does not require them to report it.
An AA sponsor does not have to testify about anything the person told them. A union member or union representative cannot “be forced to disclose any communication between the union member and his or her union representative made during the course of the representation.”
A peer supporter cannot be “forced to testify as to any communication made to the peer supporter by the peer support services recipient while receiving services.”
Catholic law: “Can. 983 §1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.”
A priest cannot break the confessional seal. Never. Not for anything.
He can encourage people to go to the police. He cannot make that a condition for absolution.
The man who hears the confession “who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”
The penalty is automatic.
“Putting clergy to the choice between temporal criminal punishment and eternal damnation, interfering with the internal governance and discipline of the Catholic Church, and targeting religion for the abrogation of all privileges, is a patent violation of both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and a violation of Article I, Section 11 of the Washington Constitution,” argued the bishops.
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