UNITED STATES
Canonical Consultation
01/20/2015
Jennifer Haselberger
Today, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari in the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Baton Rouge v. Mayeux. This means that our nation’s highest court will not consider the issue of whether the courts can determine what constitutes a ‘confession per se’ or whether such courts must ‘respect the church’s own view that such communications are confessional and absolutely protected from disclosure by the priest on penalty of automatic excommunication’. For the full summary of the issue, please see the SCOTUSblog.
This question is only one aspect of an otherwise highly contentious case which touches on the very nature of the sacramental seal (canon 983, 1). Canon law holds that the seal of confession is inviolable, and imposes ‘severe’ punishment upon a priest who directly or indirectly reveals the privileged communication. As such, the Diocese of Baton Rouge is arguing that a priest cannot be compelled to testify about the contents of a confession.
In general, I think Catholics support this understanding of the nature of the sacramental seal. However, what makes this case interesting is that the privilege is being claimed, by the priest and the diocese, not for the benefit of the penitent but for the benefit of said priest and diocese, who are being sued for negligence. For, it is alleged that a minor penitent, Rebecca Mayeux, confessed to her priest, Father George Bayhi, that a fellow parishioner, an adult, had molested her. According to nola.com, the molestation was alleged to have occurred in 2008, when both Rebecca and her alleged abuser were members of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Clinton. The Mayeux family alleges that on three separate dates in July 2008, Rebecca told Father Bayhi that the adult parishioner had inappropriately touched her, kissed her and told her “he wanted to make love to her.” Bayhi did not report the abuse to civil authorities or take other measures to prevent further abuse from occurring because, he argues, the communications occurred during the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Generally, priests are exempt from mandatory reporting laws when the information is received in the act of sacramental confession. What makes this case interesting is that the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in May that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws if the person who makes the confession waives confidentiality. In other word, the Louisiana Supreme Court found that confidentially in such contexts is intended to protect the person who made the confessions, not the person who receives them.
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