A Time for Open Confession

The Australian
November 15, 2012

www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/a-time-for-open-confession/story-e6frg71x-1226516925407

FOR Catholics who wish to remain in a state of grace, the church offers the service of the confessional, whereby the priest conducts an audit of the soul on behalf of the Almighty. Since the penitent is considered to be confessing to God alone, in the presence of his servant, the information is protected under the seal of the confessional.

A priest who tried to withhold information gained in this way from a royal commission could be jailed for contempt. In practice, a wise royal commissioner would first explore every other avenue to establish the truth, knowing that the fabric of society is best preserved by avoiding pushing the theoretical conflict between church and state to the ultimate test. For its part, the church takes a pragmatic approach, in so far as its divine obligations will allow. Priests are adept at guiding penitents in the direction of the local police station when needed, quietly and without fanfare. George Pell has gone further, advising priests not to hear a confession when they suspect that criminal behaviour might be revealed.

Those who simply want to put a stop to child abuse will see this debate as entirely confected. It is unlikely to come to a head at the forthcoming royal commission, assuming goodwill on behalf of the commission and the church. Those who see an opportunity to discredit the Catholic Church, however, will milk it for all it is worth.

The Australian supports the royal commission as a vehicle for exposing institutional failures. If radical secularists want to propose a separate royal commission to consider the abolition of the Catholic Church, they are welcome to put the arguments forward. But this subversive game being played by the usual suspects, with the connivance of the ABC, is a distraction the real victims of abuse could do without. Let us not beat about the bush: their fight with Catholicism is, in part, a proxy war against Tony Abbott. We do not see Catholic Labor MPs, like Don Farrell or South Australian Treasurer Jack Snelling, for instance, put on the spot about complex issues of church against state. Nor would it be acceptable to habitually refer to Julia Gillard as "a confirmed atheist" in the way the Opposition Leader is now customarily called "a devout Catholic". The revelations of child abuse are ugly enough; let us leave politics and sectarianism out of this.