Catholic Church won't break confessional seal on child abuse, despite royal commission

By Paige Cockburn
ABC News
August 31, 2018

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/catholic-response-to-royal-commission-child-sex-abuse/10183020

The interior of a Catholic church, showing rows of empty pews.

Mark Coleridge, Archdiocese of Brisbane, says the Church wants to put child safety first.

Abuse victim Richard Jabara believes the Catholic Church is still hiding facts about abuse.

[See also the response of the bishops' conference and conference of superiors (this link brings you directly to the portion of the response relating to the seal of confession).]

The Catholic Church will not accept the royal commission's recommendation to lift the seal of confession regarding child sex abuse, arguing it impinges on religious liberties.

Almost nine months after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its findings, the Church has delivered its formal reply.

It said it would not change secrecy rules, meaning clergy do not have to report abuse revealed in the confessional.

"This is because it is contrary to our faith and inimical to religious liberty," the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) said in their response.

"We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people while maintaining the seal.

"We do not see the seal as mutually exclusive."

The Catholic bodies used their response to argue that children would be less safe if mandatory reporting of confessions was required.

A perpetrator or victim might be less likely to raise abuse in confession if confidence in the sacramental seal was undermined, the response said.

"So an opportunity would be lost to encourage a perpetrator to self-report to civil authorities or victims to seek safety," it said.

Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, who spoke at a press conference in Sydney this morning, said breaking the seal also had practical limits, as most confessions were anonymous.

"If I am a confessor and someone comes to me anonymously and confesses abusing a child, without identifying the victim, what am I supposed to do?" he said.

"[Tell] the police … 'someone whose name I don't know, who is anonymous, has confessed to abusing a child, the identity of whom I don't [know] either'."

Archbishop Coleridge went on to compare the seal of confession to client-lawyer privilege and journalistic protection of sources.

"We see the seal in terms of not dissimilar to legal privilege, which no-one disputes, and the rights of journalists not to disclose their sources," he said.

However, the Catholic Church is seeking advice on creating new canons, one which would make child sex abuse a canonical crime, not a "moral failing".

It will also seek consultation on the commission's recommendation that the pontifical secret — a requirement to deal with clerical sex abuse confidentiality — not be applied to child sex abuse.

The Church also said it would consider a recommendation from the commission on voluntary celibacy.

The ACBC said expert theological and canonical advice will be sought on changing canon laws so celibacy is not mandatory.

"Inadequate initial and continuing formation of priests … for celibate living may have contributed to a heightened risk of child sexual abuse," the response said.

"[But] … the royal commission made no finding of a causal connection between celibacy and child sexual abuse."

Archbishop Coleridge nevertheless said there was a "dark side" to celibacy and it was an aggravating factor to abuse.

"I am the first to admit that," he said.

But he made the point that the bulk of child abuse was perpetrated by people who were not celibate, and the roots of voluntary celibacy were deep.

"Will [this change] happen soon? I doubt it," Archbishop Coleridge said.

Richard Jabara, who as a 13-year-old was raped by Catholic priest and serial child abuser Terence Pidoto, said today's response has left him cold.

"I wanted them to hear we were doing an internal investigation and get rid of anyone who knew anything," he said.

"To me it just comes across as 'sorry we were exposed'."

Mr Jabara described the rejection of the confessional seal recommendation as hypocritical.

"They say 'trust us' when in fact what they just said is 'we are going to do the opposite, we are going to be secret'."

"That's what they've always been — a secret society."

Of all the survivors who reported abuse in religious institutions, more than 60 per cent told the royal commission it had happened at the hands of the Catholic Church.

Today, the Catholic Church pledged "never again" and vowed there would be no more cover-ups or transferring of people accused of abuse.

"There will be no placing the reputation of the Church above the safety of the children," Catholic Religious Australia president Josephite Sister Monica Cavanagh said.