“It is forcing somebody who’s given their entire life – raised their hand,
made an oath with God almighty – to choose between God’s law and man’s law.”
– Sen. Leonard Christian (R-Spokane Valley)

From history, examples of the government seeking to control the Church are plentiful, and now a key instance arrives to us in our lifetimes that will impact more than a hundred churches across Washington State. If enacted, our protection of religious liberty will be breached – and priests may be jailed.

For the third straight Legislative Session, liberal lawmakers are attempting to pass a bill that would require clergy members to report instances of abuse when it is disclosed by a congregant during confession. For the first time in our history, such an agenda has passed the Senate, and soon it may pass the House, too. Yet this agenda is a clear violation of the Free Exercise of Religion in our Constitution’s First Amendment. A person does not have to be a Catholic to see this clear-cut violation by liberal lawmakers, nor to see “the agenda behind the agenda,” which is to usurp the unique role of the Church in society with the meddling control of government bureaucrats, who now aim to crack the absolute Seal of Confession.

 

Bill Background

State law currently requires teachers, police, registered nurses, social service counselors, and members of several other professions to report to law enforcement or the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families if they have reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect. SB 5375 would add clergy to the list and remove their privilege to keep information shared in penitent communications confidential.

Past efforts failed when the two legislative chambers disagreed on whether confessions should be protected. The pro-abortion, pro-LGBT Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle) and Rep. Amy Walen (D-Kirkland) have introduced companion bills in the House (HB 1211) and Senate (SB 5375) to add clergy to the state’s roster of professions whose members must inform law enforcement if they believe a child has been harmed. For not abiding by this law, priests could be jailed.

Historical Background

What is the very first item in the Bill of Rights? It is not the right to free speech, as some would guess. It is religious liberty: the free exercise of religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” The first and highest priority of First Amendment is to protect the Church and help create a society where the Church cannot only survive, but thrive. The Bill of Rights in 1791 was a defensive document against the newcomer of a larger federal government because of the recently ratified U.S. Constitution a few years earlier in 1788. The very first thing the very First Amendment says to the new government is: “Hands off the Church. No infringement.” Religion was central to the story of the United States. As former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal points out: “America did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created America.”

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution, and especially the heroic Anti-Federalists, were wise to protect the Church given the State’s historical proclivity to control religion. To see the modern-day government at all levels — local, state, and federal — micromanage and meddle in churches so heavy-handedly across the nation – even during Confession (!) – stands in stark contrast to the mindset of our political ancestors who enshrined this wall of paramount protection for the Church.

Arguments To Protect the Absolute Seal of Confession

(1) Not the Same Role. This bill erroneously equates the position of teachers, police, and nurses to that of a member of the clergy, when those roles are dissimilar regarding confidentiality. In this sense, a clergy member’s role is more similar to that of a lawyer. Attorney-client privilege is seen as sacrosanct in the criminal justice system. But this bill would say in effect that it’s good for lawyers to keep confessions secret for secular reasons, but it’s illegal for priests to keep confessions secret for religious reasons.

“Just as forcing defense attorneys to report suspected child abuse [would have] a chilling effect – it would discourage those accused of abuse, including innocent people, it would discourage them from seeking legal counsel to help them stay out of jail – forcing priests to report suspected child abuse that they learn about in the confessional would also have a chilling effect,” apologist Trent Horn explains. “They would discourage those who have committed these crimes from seeking absolution that can help them stay out of hell. It is vitally important to stop child abuse, it is a grave evil, but we can’t accomplish that goal through the deprivation of our fundamental rights. … We wouldn’t want government surveillance in all of our homes even if it prevented an evil like child abuse.”

Horn continues:

If the church is accused of hiding abusers because of this narrow confidentiality privilege, well, then we can say law firms are guilty of hiding abusers when they don’t turn in every client suspected of past abuse who confides to his attorney. As Catholics, we’re not asking for a sweeping exemption so that everything ever said to a priest is off the record. We’re just asking for a wall to separate the church and the state from one another. This wall would be made up of the dark enamel of the confessional that lets us make personal decisions between ourselves, our priests, and God without government interference.

(2) Bound By Oath. The Washington State Catholic Conference strongly opposes SB 5375 because the Seal of Confession is absolute and a core tenet. The Conference is the “public policy voice” of the Catholic Bishops of the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Diocese of Spokane, and the Diocese of Yakima. “Catholic priests cannot reveal what is said in the confessional,” wrote Jean Welch Hill, the Executive Director. Hill adds, “If they comply with the bill as it is written, the priest will be automatically excommunicated. To demand that a priest choose between compliance with the law or the loss of his lifelong vocation is exactly what the First Amendment is supposed to protect against.”

The Canon Law of the Catholic Church is clear-cut about excommunication. Canon 1386 states, “A confessor (priest) 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.” Added state Sen. Leonard Christian (R-Spokane Valley) who opposes the bill: “It is forcing somebody who’s given their entire life – raised their hand, made an oath with God almighty – to choose between God’s law and man’s law.”

(3) Hindering Confession. Abolishing the clergy-penitent privilege would likely prevent abusers from confessing, and hinder priests’ efforts to instruct offenders to turn themselves in. Mandating priests to report it could lead to less disclosure of abuse, not more. It would drive the sin more underground, so to speak. Why tell a priest when the priest is forced to report it to the government?

(4) Impractical. The law is impractical, Horn points out:

Its main purpose is to target Catholics instead of being something that will noticeably reduce child abuse. I mean, what is a priest supposed to do if someone comes into the confessional anonymously and confesses that they abused a child? Is he going to jump out of the confessional in front of the crowd of people waiting for their turn, take the guy’s picture, send it to the police, chase him down into the parking lot? What is he supposed to do? So just at first blush, this seems more like virtue signaling than doing something productive to help children.

The Agenda Behind the Agenda

The real agenda is to use the guise of a grave sin in order to control the Church, which in the last decade or so had made headlines for abuse itself, and so enemies see it as a potential “vulnerable spot” to exploit and thus gain control. Yet the deeper truth remains: This bill is a slippery slope that would allow the government to begin encroaching on the Church’s constitutionally protected freedoms. What sin is next that priests must report to the government? If the government can control what is said in private confession, what other regulations will the government impose next?

In the Washington Senate chamber, two Democrats joined all 18 Republican Senators in opposing the bill, but unfortunately, they were still outnumbered and the legislation passed the Senate. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. Please join us in prayer that Washington lawmakers would stand up for the protection of the Church.

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