Sex-abuse scandal spurs debate over confidential confessions

Analysis

By The Associated Press

06.19.02

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In a week, Monsignor James Coleman may hear several hundred confessions. Some flow namelessly and facelessly through a screen in a wooden booth. Other penitents confess their sins face-to-face with the Guilford, Conn., priest.

The ritual, one of seven sacraments, is central to the Roman Catholic Church's view of salvation. In 40 years as a priest Coleman says he's never broken its sacred seal of confidentiality.

"They're confessing before God, and I'm helping them find God's mercy," he said. "There is no way that can be compromised. No way."

The monsignor said he'd sooner die than divulge anything he hears in confession, and he's not alone. Confession's confidentiality is strictly protected by church law, which calls for the immediate and automatic excommunication of any priest who violates the seal.

Historically, American law has respected that seal. But amid the sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic church, recent movement in state legislatures suggests the tide may be turning.

In May, Connecticut lawmakers debated a bill that would have required priests to report abuse if a child was in imminent danger — even if they learned about it during confession. Catholic lawmakers protested, and the bill was ultimately amended to keep confessions private.

In Illinois, a bill that would add clergy to the list of "mandated reporters" — people who are required to alert authorities about possible abuse — was criticized for providing too large a loophole. The bill would not require clergy to report information they learn while acting as spiritual advisers.

The church says such loopholes are necessary to safeguard religious freedom. But others argue that child safety outweighs spiritual liberty on the scale of community interest.

"History has been that we have erred on the side of not intervening and giving religious organizations tremendous deference and freedom that other groups in our society will never enjoy," said David Klohessy, executive director of the Chicago-based Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests. "If we have to err, let's err on the side — for once — of protecting kids."

Lee White, who is suing Rhode Island Rev. James Silva for allegedly abusing him in the confessional when he was 14, says confession should not be protected.

"I don't think the Catholic Church should be treated any differently," said White, a Washington-based lawyer who is now a practicing Episcopalian.

Catholic theology teaches that one's sins can only be forgiven through confession before a priest. The church says such forgiveness is fundamental to an individual's salvation.

"This comes directly from the institution of Jesus," said the Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn.

Priests say confession has to be secret.

"It's a matter where an individual comes to discuss the deepest part of what's troubling him or her in his relationship with God," Coleman said. "That's between the individual and God, and the priest helps them in relieving the individual. If the person were to think that the priest would go and discuss this ... it would interfere with the whole idea of what the sacrament's all about."

The issue has provoked the head-on collision of church and state.

"We're talking about two different sovereigns here," said Clifford Fishman, a law professor at the Catholic University of America. "The time will sometimes come when, if you can't reconcile the two, you have to decide which is to be master and which is to be subservient."

Such is the case in New Hampshire, where murky laws appear to offer no exemption for the confessional. Efforts to give clergy an exemption have failed in the past decade, but lawmakers have indicated the next legislative session may see an attempt to clarify clerics' responsibilities.

In the meantime, the church must strike a careful balance.

"If someone comes to us and says they've been abused, outside of confession, we certainly report it," said Patrick McGee, spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester, N.H. "In confession, a person would probably be encouraged to talk to the priest outside of the confessional so that it could be followed up."

But when push comes to shove, the sanctity of confession prevails. New Hampshire priests have said they will go to prison rather than violate it.

"That's a spiritual direction," McGee said. "We have to preserve that seal."

The laws don't just apply to Catholics. Confession and its confidentiality is also part of the Eastern Orthodox faith. And many state laws refer to any communication between the clergy and a congregant, where the clergy acts as a spiritual adviser.

While the Supreme Court has yet to decide a case that specifically delineates the boundaries of the priest-penitent privilege, Fishman said the justices have affirmed the privilege several times in the course of ruling on other cases.

Without a federal statute to serve as a model, laws vary from state to state, and many are confusing and contradictory.

Connecticut actually has two conflicting laws, said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven. One protects cleric-congregant privilege, and the other requires clergy to report suspected child abuse to authorities.

"As a legal matter, it's pretty clear that the mandated reporter statute does supersede all the confidentiality statutes," Lawlor said.

Lawlor said he would be amenable to a carefully defined restriction exempting the confessional in the interests of protecting religious freedom. But the issue might be more theoretical than practical.

"None of the situations that we've become aware of have involved the confessional," Lawlor said.

Related

State House OKs bill requiring clergy to report child molestation
Massachusetts measure would exempt information gained during confession or similar confidential religious consultation.  04.25.02

R.I. diocese must turn over evidence of alleged sex abuse
Superior Court judge says claim that such information is protected under 'clergy-penitent' privilege is wrong.  07.02.02

Oregon House backs bill to keep confessions to clergy confidential
Measure would prevent government use of religious confessions in criminal cases.  02.12.99

Minister fights efforts by prosecutors to obtain information about confession
Lawyer says Washington pastor's religious beliefs trump state's interest in murder prosecution.  05.22.98