LOUISIANA
St. Louis Review
SUBMITTED ON JULY 16, 2014
Last week Catholic news organizations, including the St. Louis Review, published a troubling story about the Louisiana Supreme Court attempting to compel a priest to break the seal of confession.
At issue was a lawsuit filed by the parents of a girl who claimed that, in 2008 at the age of 14, she told a priest that she had been abused by a now-deceased parishioner. The parents claim that the priest was negligent in not reporting the abuse. The girl claimed she told the priest of this in the confessional.
Louisiana’s mandatory reporter law provides an exception for members of clergy who receive reports in confidential communication, such as confession. And under canon law, a priest may not, under any circumstances, reveal anything about a confession to anyone. Not what was confessed. Not who confessed. Not ever. To violate the seal of confession would be to incur automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.
In this case, the Louisiana Court of Appeals for the First Circuit had ruled that the seal of confession pre-empted the court from ordering the priest to testify as to the nature of a confession. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that case be returned to district court to determine whether or not there was a confession, which, by canon law, the priest is not permitted to reveal.
So now the priest, Father Jeff Bayhi of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, finds himself in a difficult position. If he follows the court directive and testifies as to whether there was a confession, he excommunicates himself from the Church. If he follows Church law — as he should — he could find himself in jail for contempt of court.
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