this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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The Catholic Church has issued a warning to its clergy in Washington state: Any priest who complies with a new law requiring the reporting of child abuse confessions to authorities will be excommunicated.

https://www.newsweek.com/catholic-church-excommunicate-priests-following-new-us-state-law-2069039

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 3 days ago (55 children)

Separation of church and state goes both ways.

Confession is a religious rite. Try to legislate that rite is a violation of that separation.

Priests are bound by their office to maintain absolute confidentiality of confessed sins. Otherwise people are not likely to confess their sins.

It doesn’t matter how you, personally, feel about this or their religion or the value of confession as a sacrament, that’s their religion. The state doesn’t get to intervene.

The church should stay out of state affairs, and the state should stay out of church affairs. Exceptions exist, like when practices are outright criminal in themselves. But the state cannot compel a priest to violate their office. This is long accepted. You cannot compel a priest to testify about confession, for example.

Priests can encourage people to go to the police, but that’s it. Their role in confession is between the sinner and their god.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There's a Christian duty to follow laws that are just as well. From a very Christian perspective, the right thing to do would be convincing them to confess outright at least.

I'm no priest and I was definitely never catholic, but that's how I see it as someone who grew up in a protestant house.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There’s a Christian duty to follow laws that are just as well.

If you read St Paul, the "that are just" clause appears nowhere. Instead, there is an absolute requirement to obey the authorities (though clearly they made an exception when the authorities were persecuting Christians, though some might argue that Christians are now effectively self-persecuting).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Hyup, I grew up semi-methodist, which honestly still colors my agnostic/atheistic beliefs today, and that whole vibe with Catholicism always missed me. Now that you mention it, the self-persecuting is very in-groupy too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can tell you that that's also what I got. The way confessions work, the priest gives you... "penance" is what it might be called? What you need to do to repent for your sins and be absolved of them. Usually that's some prayer, but they can tell you that you have to turn yourself in and admit to your crimes to the police.

I have no idea if priests actually do that, and I imagine with the secrecy it'd be hard to get any information.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Well put. At a point it would be the only way to be "right with god" in the first place.

In the end the system is eerily, well, identical to American cops protecting their own. At least it makes Thin White Line kinda funny for a few reasons.

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