Senate Passes SB 6298, Mandatory Reporting and the Clergy Penitent Privilege
Senate Bill 6298 (SB 6298), concerning the duty of the clergy to report child abuse or neglect, passed the Senate on Wednesday, February 7. The bill will now move to the House. SB 6298 makes all clergy of any faith mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect with the limited exception of information obtained in a penitential communication. The definition of penitential communication is narrowly designed to protect the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The WSCC is in support of most of this bill, which represents a compromise between the religious liberty rights of religions and the rights of survivors of abuse. Thus, the bill provides a strong exemption from reporting for any information obtained solely in the Sacrament of Confession. On the other hand, if a child is actively being abused, the bill adds a duty to warn authorities, even if the information comes “in part” from a penitential communication.
While the duty to warn provision on its face could require breaking the Seal of Confession, we are neutral on this provision since, with our strong Safe Environment protocols and policies, clergy, lay employees and volunteers should all be reporting reasonable suspicions of abuse based on witnessed conduct long before a confession.
In the rare circumstance when a priest has suspicions that are not reported until the abuse is confessed during the sacrament – or learns of it for the first time in confession – the priest has a duty to help penitent persons in their act of penance to seek atonement for past sins, to change their lives and to avoid future sins. Normally this would include removing themselves from any access to the child, seeking professional counseling and self-reporting to authorities. The priest could also encourage the penitent to visit with him or another mandatory reporter outside of the confessional.
No priest has authority to violate Canon Law by breaking the Seal of Confession, even in part. Similarly, we know of no priest who would allow known child abuse to persist and a known perpetrator to continue to jeopardize their immortal soul after that person has reached out for help in the Sacrament of Confession.
The broader exemption for penitential communications in the bill is critical to protect the Sacrament of Confession from state intrusion. The duty to warn is such an intrusion but can be avoided by following Safe Environment policies and pastoral care of a penitent confessing to ongoing sinfulness.
The alternative to this bill is no exemption, which would place the priest in violation of the law in all circumstances where there is a confession of past or present abuse.
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