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Democratic State Senator, Jerry Hill, introduced a bill known as the “Removing Clergy Exemption from Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting," which would strip priests of their legal protection for the Catholic Church’s sacrament of confession when it comes to child sexual abuse. California state lawmakers are starting the process to remove an exemption in the state’s “mandated reporter” law that allows all members of the clergy to withhold knowledge of suspected child abuse from law enforcement if that information is obtained during a "penitential communication," such as Catholic confession.
"The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes — with no exceptions, period," Hill said in a statement, according to Fox News. "The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk." Hill says the exception is really a loophole because “penitential communication” can mean any conversation with a member of the clergy. “Any communication can be conceived as a penitential communication, if it is in an office or anyplace, as long as there’s an understanding there it’s privileged, it does not have to be reported,” said Hill, as CBS San Francisco reports.
The definition of “penitential communication” according to California Penal Code is that penitential communication is a communication intended to be in confidence; including, but not limited to, a sacramental confession made to a clergy member who has a duty to keep those communications secret. Unlike teachers and therapists and other categories such as daycare workers, police, firefighters, dentists, coaches, etc. who are required by state law to notify law enforcement about suspected abuse without an exception; priests are not required to report suspected abuse if they learn about it during confession. There are stories about priests who told other priests about their misconduct but were never reported to law enforcement.
After Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia who all have statutes in place that mandate that priests report child sexual abuse to law enforcement — no matter how they learn of it — California is the latest of the states who are making the move in this direction. As always, there are those who believe that this is not the right thing to do. As Fox News reports, Father John Landry of Massachusetts, who said that a priest must honor the seal of confession “even if he’s threatened with imprisonment, torture or death," is one of them. It appears there are those who value the seal of confession more than the safety of children.
