AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 16, 2012
Michelle Grattan
The royal commission’s wide remit is fair but a nightmare in practice.
A DECADE ago Father Frank Brennan, a high-profile Jesuit priest who is now professor of law at the Australian Catholic University, had a woman confess to him that she was a murderess.
Brennan, with a deep belief in the sanctity of the confessional, would not have dreamed of going to the police, even if the law required it, which it does not. Anyway, Brennan asks, what good would it have done? He didn’t know the names of the woman or her alleged victim, nor the time or place of the alleged crime.
Brennan has never had anyone confess to child sex abuse. He believes the intense debate about whether priests should have to report what they’ve heard from confessions is beside the point. The perpetrators don’t share those secrets in the confessional box (although it is perhaps more likely priests might pick up information about perpetrators from victims).
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