DELAWARE
The News Journal
Jessica Masulli Reyes, The News Journal February 4, 2016
A Delaware judge is allowing a lawsuit against a Jehovah’s Witness congregation to continue, but repeated concerns about the constitutionality of the state’s law that shields clergy from having to report child abuse disclosed during confessions.
Superior Court Judge Mary M. Johnston issued a 12-page ruling last week in which she refused to dismiss the lawsuit, citing genuine issues that can only be decided at a trial.
Attorney General Matt Denn’s office filed a lawsuit against the Laurel Delaware Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2014 alleging two elders failed to report to state authorities a sexual relationship between a woman and 14-year-old boy, both of whom were members of the congregation.
The congregation’s attorney asserts that the elders were exempt from reporting because of a state law that does not require disclosure when the abuse is disclosed in an attorney-client setting or “that between priest and penitent in a sacramental confession.”
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