ILLINOIS
Catholic Culture

The Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled that a letter written to a priest does not fall under the purview of the clergy-penitent privilege.

A pastor in the Diocese of Rockford received a letter from a parish volunteer alleging that one minor had sexually abused another minor. The mother of the accused minor filed a defamation lawsuit in which she alleged that the accusation was false and that her child had become “isolated and ostracized in the community, including the parish community.”