NOTES BETWEEN PRINTED EDITIONS
BILL FILED IN ARIZONA TO
IMPOSE JAIL TIME FOR PRIESTS
WHO REFUSE TO VIOLATE
THE SEAL OF THE CONFESSIONAL
On January 5th, reporter Matt Lamb from LifeSiteNews, contacted the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, seeking a comment about a proposed Arizona law which would impose prison sentences and six figure fines on Catholic priests who refused to violate the Seal of the Confessional, in cases of sexual abuse.
In response to questions from Matt Lamb, League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comments:
Matt Lamb: Given that it is similar to a law that was federally enjoined in Washington and has since been revoked, does it seem there is any reasonable chance this would be implemented?
C. J. Doyle: The sanctity of the Seal of the Confessional—known in civil law as the priest-penitent privilege—has been upheld in American law since the New York case of People v. Philips in 1813.
The inevitability of a legal challenge should the Arizona legislation become law, the recent decision by the U.S. District Court in the State of Washington, and the likelihood of intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice, all supported by two centuries of common law and American jurisprudence, suggest that such a statute would not pass constitutional muster.
As the proponents know this, these proposals may be regarded as political posturing more than serious law making.
Matt Lamb: This legislator is joining others in Washington and Montana pushing to revoke the Seal of Confession. Why do you think politicians, particularly Democrats, are targeting the Catholic Church?
C. J. Doyle: It is, certainly, not difficult to ascribe motives to the author of the proposed Arizona law. The sponsor of the anti-Catholic law is State Representative Stacey Travers, the Democratic Minority Whip.
Travers was endorsed by NOW, Emily’s List, Stonewall Democrats and Arizona Equality.
She has co-sponsored legislation to repeal the state’s former 15 week abortion ban; to eliminate abortion reporting requirements; to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment; to erase conscience protections for health care professionals in the provision of contraceptives; to prohibit conversion therapy; to legalize assisted suicide; and to establish same sex marriage as a right under the Arizona Constitution.
For Travers, and other left-wing Democrats, the Catholic Church is an ideological adversary which must be vilified and discredited at every opportunity.
They do this by exploiting the clerical sex abuse scandal of the past to portray the clergy as callously indifferent to abuse victims. Their methods are cynical, and their motives are malicious and punitive.
Matt Lamb: What should Catholics do to oppose this law?
C. J. Doyle: As reception of the Sacrament of Penance is indispensably necessary for the practice of the Catholic Religion, and as the sanctity of the Confessional is integral to the administration of the sacrament, Catholics must make clear that any effort to violate the seal will be regarded as nothing less than an attempt to criminalize Catholicism, which will be resisted by all appropriate means.
It must also be made known that the only way to enforce such legislation is through entrapment—the sending in of undercover police agents to the confessional to make false confessions.
The opportunities for abuse are rampant. A convicted sex offender could invent a claim that he confessed his sins, and then offer to testify against a priest in order to have his sentence reduced.
Finally, as Professor Jonathan Turley pointed out, a priest’s coerced admission would be useless in a court of law if he did not first give a Miranda warning to the penitent.
C. J. Doyle’s remarks were included in a story published today, January 6th, in LifeSiteNews.
