UNITED STATES
First Things

by Ulrich L. Lehner
2 . 17 . 15

In January of this year, the U.S. Supreme court declined to intervene in a case in which the prosecutor wants to force Fr. Jeff Bayhi, a priest of the diocese of Baton Rouge, to testify about a confession in court. He allegedly told a fourteen year-old in 2008 to forget about the sexual abuse she had suffered from a family member. If Fr. Bayhi indeed did this, he will have to take responsibility for this despicable and unpastoral act at a higher, heavenly court—but he cannot be expected to discuss the contents of a confession in a U.S. court of law.

After marriage, confession has always been the most contentious sacrament in the struggle between church and state. Already in the late middle ages Christian rulers felt offended that their rule should find limits in…