Confessional Box No Place to Catch Criminals, Says Ted Baillieu

By Ashley Gardiner
Courier Mail
July 19, 2012

www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/confessional-box-no-place-to-catch-criminals-says-ted-baillieu/story-fndo1wyv-1226429410054

[with video]

PREMIER Ted Baillieu has backed the right of priests to keep private what is said in the confessional.

The Herald Sun revealed that a parliamentary committee would consider forcing priests to reveal reports of abuse heard during confession.

Mr Baillieu pointed to an earlier inquiry, headed by Justice Philip Cummins, that came out against the requirement.

He said members of that inquiry "all concluded that the sanctity of the confessional should remain".

"I think that's a powerful argument," Mr Baillieu said.

Labor MP Frank McGuire, the deputy chair of the parliamentary committee, yesterday said the inquiry should be conducted by a retired judge or eminent senior counsel.

"This is an inquiry into whether heinous crimes against children have been covered up, and what laws, policies and procedures need to be changed," Mr McGuire said.

"The inquiry is too important for politics."

Australian Catholic University law professor Fr Frank Brennan said the move would be a restriction on religious freedom.

"I am one of the priests who, if such a law were enacted, would disobey it and, if need be, I would go to jail," Fr Brennan said.

Melbourne Victims' Collective co-ordinator Helen Last welcomed the proposal.

"Priests need to be mandated to report from within the confessional and without the confessional, and they urgently need to be trained about appropriately referring victims," Ms Last said.

The Cummins Report called for a new law for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in religious organisations.

"An exemption for information received during the rite of confession should be made," the report said.

Contact: gardinera@heraldsun.com.au