The state of Washington declared war on the Roman Catholic Church in May when Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 5375 into law. The bill requires Catholic clergy to break the seal of confession and inform on a penitent who confesses to child abuse.
The law gives priests a choice: Violate the sanctity of the confessional and suffer excommunication, or refuse to report the abuse and go to prison.
The sanctity of the confessional has been recognized in America since 1813, when a New York court refused to compel a priest to reveal what a man accused of stealing jewelry told him during confession.
Senate Bill 5375 "adds clergy to Washington’s list of mandatory reporters for child abuse but explicitly denies them the 'privileged communication' exemption granted to other professionals, such as nurses and therapists," reports The National Catholic Register.
Two other states, New Hampshire and West Virginia, also require priests to report abuse without offering the confidentiality exemption for confession. Washington is different because it still affords attorney-client privilege and similar privileges for other professions.
“Senate Bill 5375 unconstitutionally forces Catholic priests in Washington to choose between their obligations to the Catholic Church and their penitents or face criminal consequences, while treating the priest-penitent privilege differently than other well-settled privileges,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said. “The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
The justice department’s complaint contains a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Catholic bishops against the law. The lawsuit states that the law “specifically targets members of the clergy and is not a neutral, generally applicable law that incidentally burdens religion.”
More than half of the states in America list clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse. The majority, however, have exemptions for confession. Washington joins New Hampshire and West Virginia in not offering that exemption for confession. However, Washington is unique in that it keeps the attorney-client privilege and similar privileges for other professions in place.
A group of Orthodox churches in America is also suing Washington over the law, saying that Orthodox priests may be kicked out of the priesthood if they comply with the law.
Failure to comply with the law by a priest would result in a $5,000 fine and up to 364 days in jail.
Catholic bishops in Washington also filed suit, saying that the policies they adopted go further in protecting children than Senate Bill 5375.
“Consistent with the Roman Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate the societal scourge of child abuse, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have each adopted and implemented within their respective dioceses policies that go further in the protection of children than the current requirements of Washington law on reporting child abuse and neglect,” the lawsuit states.
The policies require "reporting suspected abuse by Church personnel, including clergy, except when information is learned solely in confession, which is protected by 'more than 2,000 years of Church doctrine,'" the suit states.
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Child sexual abuse is one of the most heinous crimes a person can commit. So are murder and rape, yet there's no mandate to force priests to reveal information relating to those crimes gleaned from confession.
This is a law begging to be overturned by the first judge who gets to rule on it. It's a clear violation of First Amendment protections. Gov. Ferguson and the Washington legislature should hang their heads in shame for even considering this bill.
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