ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
July 11, 2019
Before SB 360 was withdrawn from consideration today, Catholic Church officials spoke out against it in no uncertain terms. Bishops in San Jose, Sacramento, Stockton, and Los Angeles all urged parishioners to oppose the measure. Oakland Bishop Michael Barber may have gone the furthest when he said that he would use his power as Bishop to order the priests employed by him to disobey that civil law. Even the Vatican weighed in, saying that “no human power” can compel priests to violate seal of confession.
This opposition to the reform of the mandatory reporting law is problematic for a couple of reasons.
First, this lack of respect for secular laws seems to us to be part of the reason why there is an abuse scandal in the Catholic church in America and worldwide. Cases of child sexual abuse by clergy were not only not reported to law enforcement, they were concealed from parishioners and the public. Priests were treated as if they were above the criminal law.
Second, the bishops are conflating the intent of this law – the explicit protection of children – with other church precepts. The law was modified to specify only information on ministerial abuse of children received in confession – no other penitent privileges were impacted. The free exercise of religion is not absolute, and the protection of the young and vulnerable from clerical abusers would not seem to be an unreasonable intrusion on practice.
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