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Australian priests could be forced to breach seal of the confessional

My understanding of the Seal of the Confessional has always been that it cannot be broken, not even if a priest is required to give up his life. So I Googled "why the Seal cannot be broken" and found that in 2006 New Hampshire became the first state to require priests to break the Seal: Will The Seal of Confession Be Broken? | 2006 | Current Campaigns

Here's an Oregon case from 2009: ZENIT - Seal of Confession Goes on Trial

Here is what appears to be a good explanation of the "rules":

SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The seal of confession (Supplementum, Q. 11)
 
nota bene said:
My understanding of the Seal of the Confessional has always been that it cannot be broken, not even if a priest is required to give up his life. So I Googled "why the Seal cannot be broken" and found that in 2006 New Hampshire became the first state to require priests to break the Seal: Will The Seal of Confession Be Broken? | 2006 | Current Campaigns

Here's an Oregon case from 2009: ZENIT - Seal of Confession Goes on Trial

Here is what appears to be a good explanation of the "rules":

SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The seal of confession (Supplementum, Q. 11)
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I'm entirely good with putting priests who will not follow the law in prison. At least they won't be molesting altar boys.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Confessions should be like doctor or psychiatrist visits, completely confidential. Unless the person is talking about specifically harming someone.

I'm an avid atheist, but I fully support the church to maintain its own beliefs.
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What of the confessor says "I raped my 16 year old daughter." and the priest knows he also has a 14 and 12 year old in his household, he's not obligated to tell authorities?

What, the priest tells him to say 10 Hail Mary's and to not do it again?
 
Goshin said:
While I think that any good government that cares about the rights and liberties of its citizenry, should be VERY VERY cautious and hesitant about sticking its nose into the internal proceedures of any religious organization... when you have reason to believe that a certain type of very serious crime (ie pedo) has become a problem within that religious org, and that the org's own internal rules are causing the crimes to be covered up and interfering with prosecution, you have a strong argument for such intervention.

Whether this intervention is legal I could not say, as I have almost zero knowlege of Australia's legal structure, or whether they have anything similar to the BoR or not.
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OK, now I have an established church that meets all legal requirements, similar to Catholicism.
We decide that murder, when confessed, does not need to be reported, as it violates our confidentially of the confessional.
We have also decided to condone murder as an exception to sin when it is based upon revenge.

Based upon your separation of church and state, any of my members who confess to murder for revenge will escape any punishment as my priests have to tell nobody under the cloak of confession.
 
SMTA said:
OK, now I have an established church that meets all legal requirements, similar to Catholicism.
We decide that murder, when confessed, does not need to be reported, as it violates our confidentially of the confessional.
We have also decided to condone murder as an exception to sin when it is based upon revenge.

Based upon your separation of church and state, any of my members who confess to murder for revenge will escape any punishment as my priests have to tell nobody under the cloak of confession.
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Um, dude, you need to re-read what I said.
 
Cephus said:
I'm entirely good with putting priests who will not follow the law in prison. At least they won't be molesting altar boys.
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Wouldn't that be like Disneyland to them?
 
spanky said:
What of the confessor says "I raped my 16 year old daughter." and the priest knows he also has a 14 and 12 year old in his household, he's not obligated to tell authorities?

What, the priest tells him to say 10 Hail Mary's and to not do it again?
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I guess you can't read very well either. I specifically said "Unless the person is talking about specifically harming someone."
 
dyanaprajna2011 said:
I think this is a step in the right direction for the Catholic church.
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You have influenced by bias media reporting. The Royal commission will have a broader frame of reference and not just look at abuse by the catholic clergy.

All religious denominations and groups will be examined

I hear that the Rabbis are getting very nervous in Australia
 
spanky said:
Australian priests could be forced to breach seal of the confessional - Telegraph





So the solution from the church is for priests to refuse confessionals to pedos.

Nice.

So the question here is should priests be relieved from reporting pedophilia to authorities which they discover during confession?

FWIW - Even doctors, under the seal of medical privacy, are required to report such.
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Priests are just men, like any other man. Though I'm no longer a Christian, I'm pretty sure allowing pedophilia to continue for the sake of keeping a ceremonial secret would be a pretty big sin. Furthermore, I believe pedophiles who rape children should be eligible for capital punishment, priest or not.
 
I've never been a fan of the "I did horrible things, please forgive me and don't tell anyone" frame of thought. Then again, I'm not a religious person. The concept that one can "confess" horrific crimes and be "absolved of sin" while keeping the crimes and the sin private is abhorrant to me.
 
Surtr said:
Priests are just men, like any other man. Though I'm no longer a Christian, I'm pretty sure allowing pedophilia to continue for the sake of keeping a ceremonial secret would be a pretty big sin. Furthermore, I believe pedophiles who rape children should be eligible for capital punishment, priest or not.
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what about the doctor-patient confidentiality agreement?

Corporations hide behind their crimes by imposing all sorts of legalities upon their work force and staff

There must be a higher authority that supercedes all these agreed upon contracts and takes into account the interests of the public or the defenseless - children, elderly etc
 
RabidAlpaca said:
I guess you failed to read my comment. I specifically said "Unless the person is talking about specifically harming someone."

Thanks for wasting your time and mine.
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The way it was written and context seemed like you were saying only if the confessor was talking about a crime to be committed.

Otherwise your comment makes no sense since we were talking about a perp who confesses to molesting a child in order to gain absolution.

Consequently we'll give you the "Captain Obvious" award.
 
spanky said:
The way it was written and context seemed like you were saying only if the confessor was talking about a crime to be committed.

Otherwise your comment makes no sense since we were talking about a perp who confesses to molesting a child in order to gain absolution.

Consequently we'll give you the "Captain Obvious" award.
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Gotcha, only people who support pedophilia should post here. Message well received.
 
spanky said:
FWIW - Even doctors, under the seal of medical privacy, are required to report such.
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What about lawyers? Therapists? I think that confidentiality isn't necessarily a bad thing; nor should in this instance the government have the power to mandate theistic practice.
 
Klown said:
what about the doctor-patient confidentiality agreement?
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Doctors have a duty to report anyone who they feel is a danger to themselves or others.

Corporations hide behind their crimes by imposing all sorts of legalities upon their work force and staff
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Irrelevant

There must be a higher authority that supercedes all these agreed upon contracts and takes into account the interests of the public or the defenseless - children, elderly etc
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There isn't.
 
Surtr said:
Priests are just men, like any other man. Though I'm no longer a Christian, I'm pretty sure allowing pedophilia to continue for the sake of keeping a ceremonial secret would be a pretty big sin. Furthermore, I believe pedophiles who rape children should be eligible for capital punishment, priest or not.
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It doesn't stop the Catholic Church from doing it over and over and over again, nor change the fact that for many, many years, it was official church doctrine not to report priests accused of sexual crimes to the police. They're not worried about sins, they can rationalize their way around anything, they care about money and keeping things quiet.
 
Klown said:
what about the doctor-patient confidentiality agreement?
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I think doctors ought to be required by law to report rape injuries too, suspicions of child molestation, etc.

Corporations hide behind their crimes by imposing all sorts of legalities upon their work force and staff
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In fact, it is against the law for employers of all kinds to act against employees who blow the whistle on criminal activity.
 
Cephus said:
It doesn't stop the Catholic Church from doing it over and over and over again, nor change the fact that for many, many years, it was official church doctrine not to report priests accused of sexual crimes to the police. They're not worried about sins, they can rationalize their way around anything, they care about money and keeping things quiet.
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Then it's time we make them "see the light". With force if necessary.
 
Ikari said:
What about lawyers? Therapists? I think that confidentiality isn't necessarily a bad thing; nor should in this instance the government have the power to mandate theistic practice.
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I'm all in favor of lawyers being required to report evidence that they come into possession of. I think defense lawyers, if their client admits to committing the crime, should be obligated to turn that confession over to the prosecution. The point here is justice.
 
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