Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting

[fooferdoggie]

Lets just keep up these horrible practices and watch people live in droves. Remember this is the party of child protectors.
t was a frigid Sunday evening at the Catholic Newman Center in Salt Lake City when the priest warned parishioners who had gathered after Mass that their right to private confessions was in jeopardy.

A new law would break that sacred bond, the priest said, and directed the parishioners to sign a one-page form letter on their way out. “I/We Oppose HB90,” began the letter, stacked next to pre-addressed envelopes. “HB90 is an improper interference of the government into the practice of religion in Utah.”

In the following days of February 2020, Utah’s Catholic diocese, which oversees dozens of churches, says it collected some 9,000 signed letters from parishioners and sent them to state Rep. Angela Romero, a Democrat who had been working on the bill as part of her campaign against child sexual abuse. HB90 targeted Utah’s “clergy-penitent privilege,” a law similar to those in many states that exempts clergy of all denominations from the requirement to report child abuse if they learn about the crime in a confessional setting.

Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting

It was a frigid Sunday evening at the Catholic Newman Center in Salt Lake City when the priest warned parishioners who had gathered after Mass that their right to private confessions was in jeopardy.

apnews.com

 

[AG_PhamD]

It’s my understanding the “seal of confession” forbids Catholic Priests from divulging any crimes that are confessed to them and such knowledge is protected by law. This of course is true in other crimes such as murder.

Similarly, if a murder reports a past murder to a therapist, the therapist does not have to report it by law unless there is a direct, immanent threat to somebody else. Or if a child, elderly, or disabled person was a victim of a crime (ie abuse, neglect, etc).

I think there is a decent argument that by legally allowing such authorities (clergy and psych providers) protections from having to share such information it enables the opportunity for perpetrators the opportunity to be steered in the direction of getting help to prevent further offenses and potentially convincing them to turn themselves in. Presumably without this protected conversation the individual would be less likely to seek consult- which should really just be a way to encourage turning oneself in.

There was a case in an affluent CT suburb several years back where a man murdered a mother who was jogging. It was a cold (very cold) case for ~2 years. In the end, the man went to church to confess his sin, the pastor convinced him he had to turn himself in, his fellow churchgoers drove him to the police station, and he turned himself in. (Sadly despite living right near the crime scene, being new to the town, and having a history of sexual abuse never managed to put him in the police radar after the crime. And after the confession and learning of his background, the police sent him home while they investigated his claims- absolutely absurd).

Where I think the problems with this are most evident is with religious institutions who can use this religious rule (esp in the case of Catholics) and legal protection to hide cases of bad behavior- especially in serial offenses. This is particularly considering institutions (ie the Catholic Church but also most others) have an incentive to want to protect their image and therefore act act with that interest of primary concern, ultimately allowing the harm of many victims.

I think there can be a place for legal protections for clergy. I think it’s fair to make the legal rules more in line with those of mental healthcare providers- like having to be “required reporters” on cases involving children, active and direct threats* towards harming self or others, etc. There should definitely be laws against clergy protecting those in their institutions though.

*the standard for threats involving self/others under current law for providers is currently extremely low in most places. Thus why a lot of these school shootings cannot be handled well by psych providers and the police.