Here’s Some Penance: the State Wants to Hear Church Confessions about Abuse, Let It

By Marcos Breton
Sacramento Bee
May 24, 2019

https://account.sacbee.com/static/paywall/stop?resume=230771809

The state Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would require Catholic priests to rat out other Catholic priests for admitting that they molested a child – even if it were made during the sacrament of confession.

Authored by Democrat Jerry Hill of the Bay Area, Senate Bill 360 is like a TV drama “ripped from the headlines.” Catholic priests have been the molesting kids for decades and getting away with it some cases. The church has been all-too-slow in responding appropriately, or in fully atoning for unspeakable complicity in the abuse of children by members of clergy. The headlines have endless.

Hill’s bill is a direct response to the outrage over the abuse of children. The fact that Hill’s bill crosses the line supposedly separating church and state seemed of little concern to the 30 state senators – including Sacramento’s Democrat Richard Pan, and Republican Jim Nielsen, whose district includes Roseville and Yuba City.