SEATTLE (WA)
KPTV [Beaverton, Oregon]
May 13, 2025
By Spencer Schacht
Catholic priests are pushing back against a new Washington state law that requires clergy to report child abuse to law enforcement.
VANCOUVER Wash. (KPTV) – Catholic priests are pushing back against a new Washington state law that requires clergy to report child abuse to law enforcement, even if the information was obtained in the privacy of a confession booth.
Senate Bill 5375 was signed into law by Washington Governor Bob Ferguson on Friday.
On top of the Archdiocese of Seattle announcing they will excommunicate priests if they break the seal of confession, pastors in Vancouver say they will not follow the law because they believe it goes against their religious freedom, and they do not think it’s enforceable.
At the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Father Thomas Nathe walks into the confessional booth located in the back of his church’s sanctuary.
“The red means someone is in here on the other side,” he points out.
Father Nathe has been the priest at Holy Redeemer for more than a decade. He said on average, he hears about 4,000 confessions a year.
“Through the sacrament of confession, God grants the priest the ability to actually absolve and eliminate the sin its self, that is an extraordinary gift God has given to his church,” Father Nathe said.
For him, and the Catholic Church as a whole, confession is sacred.
Father Nathe said the rules around confession and seals of confidentiality cannot be dictated by state law.
“No, no state has that authority,” he said. “They do not have the authority to stop mass, they don’t have the authority to stop anyone from proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ. They can threaten to execute us and that doesn’t mean we will observe those laws.”
“The laws of the state are necessary but they have to respect religious freedom,” he that.
For that reason, Father Nathe said he will not follow SB 5375.
“I do not know a single priest that would break the seal of confession,” he said. “We would all go to prison before we would do that. Civil law has no meaning or threat to me whatsoever.”
But advocates of this new state law, like Mary Dispenza with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said this new law is not about the church – it’s about children.
“That seal of confession is not in the best interest of children reporting sexual abuse,” she said. “It may be helpful to adults who want the secrecy for whatever reason, but to a child that has been harmed seriously I believe the church need to review the canon law and change it.”
Dispenza was one of the people who helped craft this bill over the last three years. She was a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest herself, years ago.
Now, she wants to ensure children who experience similar abuse today have more protections than she did.
“We are talking about children, so I think it is essential that the people they share that crime with, in or out of confessional, need to report it.” Dispenza said, “That is all of our obligation, to care for children and support them. I continue to believe no one is above the law, not in the church, not out of the church.”
Father Nathe pointed out he is already a mandatory reporter under state law and church law. He said he will report abuse to the authorities when he hears about it, but draws the line in this booth.
He also said that during confession, he will encourage alleged abusers to turn themselves in.
“If the person said ‘I am sexually assaulting a child, this behavior is ongoing’ I would say, ‘that has to stop,’” Nathe said. “For the sake of the child, and the trauma they are going to go through for the rest of their life, I would tell them, ‘I know our lord would want you to take this to the authorities and let them know.’”
“But I would also remind them outside the confession booth I am a mandatory reporter as well,” he said.
While no lawsuits have been filed just yet, the Archdiocese of Seattle said in a statement this law violates their first amendment rights and the freedom of religion.Copyright 2025 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved