Court Rules That Letters to Priests Do Not Fall under Clergy-penitent Privilege

Catholic Culture
September 11, 2015

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=26089

The Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled that a letter written to a priest does not fall under the purview of the clergy-penitent privilege.

A pastor in the Diocese of Rockford received a letter from a parish volunteer alleging that one minor had sexually abused another minor. The mother of the accused minor filed a defamation lawsuit in which she alleged that the accusation was false and that her child had become “isolated and ostracized in the community, including the parish community.”

Citing the clergy-penitent privilege, the diocese and the priest have refused to divulge the name of the letter writer. The Appellate Court of Illinois upheld a lower court opinion and ordered the diocese to do so.