OLYMPIA (WA)
Ministry Watch [Matthews NC]
October 29, 2025
By Isaac Wood
WA ruling exempting clergy from reporting abuse learned during confession raises questions of evangelical accountability
Clergy are mandated reporters, which requires them to report suspected abuse or neglect to authorities. In most states, the priest-penitent privilege exempts priests from reporting information learned during the Sacrament of Confession. A Washington state law passed in May removed that exemption, but a recent ruling overturned that decision. Clergy in Washington will again be exempt from disclosing information learned “solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.”
For evangelicals, the new ruling raises a question: What conversations qualify as an “equivalent” to confession?
“Where are you going to draw this line? In the Catholic tradition, it’s a very clear line,” said Boz Tchividjian, a lawyer who represents abuse survivors and founded GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment).
In the Catholic tradition, the Sacrament of Confession gives specific parameters for what is exempt from the mandated reporting requirement. Tchividjian worries the language of “equivalents in other faiths” is too broad and could allow a Protestant pastor to claim all conversations with congregants qualify as an equivalent, therefore exempting them from reporting any abuse.
“If I’m a pastor,” he said, “I’m going to make the argument that it’s all confession…It protects the institution, and therefore I support it.”
The initial law passed in May raised concerns, particularly among Catholic priests. In June the United States Justice Department sued the state, which led to the October ruling.
“Going forward,” said William Haun, one of several attorneys for the Washington dioceses and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, “the clergy in Washington state are not going to be put through this impossible choice of having to violate the seal of confession or comply with state law.”
In the Catholic tradition, a congregant is mandated to participate in confession, and priests are prohibited from discussing that information. The court ordered that the law removing the reporting exemption violated the First Amendment by infringing on the priest’s right to free exercise of religion.
In support of the DOJ lawsuit, a press release from Becket said, “During the sacrament of confession, the priest acts as the mediator between God and the penitent, which requires complete confidentiality from the priest so people feel comfortable repenting their sins. This absolute secrecy is known as the seal of confession, which is so vital to the Catholic faith that any priest who violates it faces automatic excommunication.”
Tchividjian agrees that Catholic clergy should be exempt from divulging information learned during the Sacrament of Confession, specifically because it is a required sacrament.
“We don’t want [parishioners] to go to participate in the Sacrament and suddenly the Priest turns around and reports it to government authorities,” he said.
The priest-penitent privilege, Tchividjian said, is based in Catholic belief. The Catholic Church believes a person can only confess to God through an intermediary—through a priest. Therefore, confession isn’t possible without a priest.
Some Protestant denominations, like the Lutherans, have a sacrament of confession, but it’s corporate and not private. According to Tchividjian, Protestants don’t need the priest-penitent privilege like Catholics do because of their belief that they can confess without a priest.
“Quite frankly, in my opinion, there’s no equivalent in the Protestant Church,” he said. “The equivalent to the Sacrament of Confession in the Protestant world is me sitting in my office and confessing.”