California recently passed a bill that would require clergy to report allegations of child abuse to the police even if the information is received through the sacrament of reconciliation. The bill is the first of its kind in any state.
Clergy are already mandatory reporters for child abuse in California, as are teachers, medical professionals, and law enforcement. However, current state law allows an exception for “penitential communications” to allow clergy to preserve the secrecy of the confessional.
The sacrament of reconciliation, otherwise known as confession, is a long-held practice of the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the sacramental seal has “no exceptions” and that a priest is “bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy of the sins that his penitents have confessed to him.”
The bill, SB 360, was introduced by Democratic state Sen. Jerry Hill and passed the Senate on May 24 by a vote of 30-4, with four senators abstaining. The 10 Senate Republicans fractured on the measure with three voting in favor, three abstaining, and four voting against. One Democrat abstained, while the remaining 27 Democrats voted in favor.
Hill said exempting penitential communications from mandatory reporting laws “only protects the abuser and places children further at risk.” In his testimony before the Public Safety Committee in April, Hill pointed out that other mandatory reporters such as psychiatrists and counselors are required to break client privilege and stated that SB 360 would “level the playing field.”
Critics argue the bill may not achieve the intended goal of punishing child abusers and that it would severely restrict religious liberty. Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, says the bill could force priests to choose between excommunication from the church or imprisonment from the government. Barron also says people will be “reluctant indeed to ever to approach the sacrament of reconciliation” if the bill passes.
The bill now heads to the California State Assembly, where Democrats hold a 61-19 majority.
