Louisiana Judge Rules That Priests Don’t Have to Report Abuse if They Hear It During Confession

[Jim Lane]

61. Question about Catholic doctrine

I note that your excerpt tells a priest not to "betray in any way a penitent...." That would clearly apply if the penitent tells the priest, "I molested my stepdaughter yesterday." In the actual case, however, the person making the communication to the priest wasn't the abuser; it was the victim. If this were a communication to me, as a lawyer, that would make a big difference with regard to the attorney-client privilege.

Certainly a priest wouldn't be betraying a penitent if he said, "What was done to you was terrible. You should notify the authorities. If you're scared of that whole process, I'll go to them on your behalf, and do all I can to minimize the trauma. At some point you'll have to confirm what I tell them, but, to start, please authorize me to report this." That wouldn't get him excommunicated, would it?

If the priest didn't even do that much, to comply with the legal requirement of reporting without violating the sanctity of the confessional, then I don't have much sympathy for his position.