LOUISIANA
KATC
[Louisiana Supreme Court ruling]
by Kari Beal
A Louisiana lawsuit is trying to force a priest to testify what he was told in confession.
It dates back to a 2009 lawsuit with Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Baton Rouge. The parents who filed the lawsuit said Rev. M Jeffrey Bayhi ignored information that their daughter was sexually abused by Parishioner George Charlet Junior. This week, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that if the daughter testifies what she said in her confession, the priest must come forward and testify if it is true.
Now the Catholic Diocese is firing back, saying this completely goes against its religious vows.
“When a priest hears someone’s confession he cannot talk about that. It’s something so sacred that everyone priest knows when a priest is ordained what is told to him, he cannot tell anyone,” Rev. Msgr. Richard r. Greene a spokesman for the The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette and Priest of Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in New Iberia.
UL student Kaitlin Davis with Our Lady of Wisdom Church said she agrees.
“It’s personal, it’s your salvation and Christ is giving it to you personally,” Davis said.
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