Catholic confession case: Baton Rouge diocese asks U.S. Supreme Court for review

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The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court regarding the confidentiality of religious confessions. The case involves confessions allegedly made by a minor girl to a Baton Rouge priest involving molestation by a fellow parishioner. The girl's family has sued the priest and diocese, claiming they were negligent in allowing the alleged abuse to continue and should have reported it to authorities. (Jacquelyn Martin, The Associated Press)

By Emily Lane, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on September 04, 2014 at 4:20 PM, updated September 04, 2014 at 6:13 PM

The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling by the state Supreme Court it says threatens the confidentiality of religious confessions.

The Louisiana Supreme Court's ruling, rendered in May, laid out arguments that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding abuse of minors if the person who makes the confession waives confidentiality. Normally, priests are exempt as mandatory reporters in the setting of confessions. The decision by the state's high court stated confidentially is intended to protect the person who made the confessions, not the person who receives them.

"The Louisiana Supreme Court's ruling strikes a very hard blow against religious freedom," said the diocese in a press release sent Thursday (Sept. 4).

The original case involves a minor girl who alleges she confessed during the sacrament of Reconciliation to Baton Rouge priest Father George Bayhi that a fellow church parishioner had molested her.

http://www.nola.com/crime/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2014/09/catholic_confession_case_could.html