A recently passed law in Washington State supposedly protects children but in reality is an attack on the Church designed to degrade the First Amendment guaranteeing religious freedom.
The law requires clergy to disclose abuse of children made in an act of confession. The Governor of Washington, who claims Catholicism, signed this bill into law.
Confession is sacred to all main tenants of Christianity: Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics and the confidentiality of it is paramount to its continued practice as well as its sacredness before God.
Priests and Pastors hear up to thousands of confessions per year. The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church is clear in that “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.”
The State of Washington knows Canon Law has existed well within the American Catholic (and larger Christian) community for over 250 years yet is now choosing to pass a law they know is contrary to it.
There are several other reasons that this law by the State of Washington is hogwash:
1-Very few people are confessing the heinous sin of child abuse to a Pastor due to the prevalence of said abuse continuously happening. Pastors can always report a suspected problem that has not come under the sacrament of confession/act of contrition such as seeing bruising or a parent acting in most un-Christlike ways towards children (including in the Church).
2-Especially in the wake of scandals affecting Catholic Priests and evangelical Pastors, ecclesiastical bodies are doing a better job at confronting abuse in the Church and already have mandated reporters in many states.
3-Any Pastor or Priest worth their weight will not report said abuse but rather do everything in their human power to prevent it, to include physically putting themselves in between the supposed penitent and the child, as well as doing everything to get the abuser to confess their behavior to the proper authorities. This actually is a higher standard of responsibility and is one clergy do not take lightly.
4- Breaking the seal of confession leads to the immediate excommunication of a Priest (the Priest actually excommunicates themselves by violating their vows). This likely would happen in many Protestant denominations as well should a Pastor break the seal of confession. But keeping confession is much more than about a clergy member keeping their job. It is about the eternal and the sacred, which is contrary to the religion of leftism.
Confidential confession is as paramount as journalistic confidentiality and even more so, the spousal relationship in court. That is written into the fabric of American society and Christian doctrine as the Church knows that a person’s soul is not cleared by man but through the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ for all. The confidentiality is an important first step towards contrition with God and then man.
In no uncertain terms, Catholic Priests and many Protestant Pastors will willingly go to jail rather than violate the seal of confession.
The people propagating this latest attack on the Church are not doing anything about pornography, which even secular people have come to realize is an industry ripe with abuse and targets children in its makeup and audience. They do nothing about biological males coming into girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and showers. They do not even want parents to hear about a child’s gender status/change in school (ironically making the state the keeper of confession and confidentiality as opposed to parents).
It is awful. It is unconstitutional. And it is the latest example of the demonic forces which have taken over the left.
This is what the left does. They ask for an inch and they end up taking a mile. Everything is for “the children” but they end up taking a lot more as we have seen in laws affecting other groups whether it be civil rights, immigration, welfare, etc.
The Church deals with the eternal, which is greater than that of on earth. Leftism’s religion does not understand the sacredness of the Church as the custodian of souls, for the innocent as well as the guilty.
Mankind, especially those in government power, love said power. The Church understands that human sin more than anyone and, while not a perfect institution, it not only is a check on government power but is also a place for the sick people of the world, its sinners of which I am one, to hear the saving power of Jesus Christ, fellowship with other Followers, and (for many) to partake in the Sacraments. While the Church understands and acknowledges the need for government, knowing theocracy is not a good option, the Church is the best entity in the world for the redemption and safety of souls.
*Views expressed in this article are those of the author and not any government agency.
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