M'Boro Priest Clarifies His Stance on Confessional Matters
By Father Paul Kelly
[M'boro priest would break silence to out child sex abusers] I WRITE to clarify my position in relation to the Catholic sacrament of penance, (reconciliation), or "confession" as it is often called. 1. I am not at odds with my church, nor am I intending to go against my church or go outside of my church. The issue of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults is one that is abhorrent to us all. It is an horrendous crime and the article rightly indicated that I and the church I belong to want no part in anything that even unwittingly hides or fosters the continuation of these devastating crimes that have far reaching and unspeakable effects on the lives of its victims. In the interview, in which I felt I was not getting my thoughts on this at all clear because it is so complex and with many issues, I tried to indicate that confession is for the purpose of allowing those who have done wrong to admit and face the full reality of their wrongdoing in front of God. Priests are the privileged ministers of what is a sacred and private moment when a person stands before God with no barriers and nothing hidden and admits to the full reality of their sin. A truly penitent person would then be more than prepared to be directed, as they would indeed be, to take responsibility of their wrongdoing by facing the consequences of their actions and reporting themselves to a doctor and the authorities. 2. If a priest were to say 'I will breach this sacred sanctuary on your behalf without your direction' it would simply lead to people not confessing their wrongdoing and having no sacred forum to do it without any reserve at all in complete freedom to be utterly and brutally honest, which would leave no avenue for them admitting their fault. Horribly, those who do this evil act would likely not come to confession because they do not believe they have done any wrong, which is shocking and horrifying to us. In confession, the person is entitled to anonymity, so the priest would not know who it is who is speaking or the persons of which they are speaking unless the person volunteered this and went and admitted to it. In any case, what the priest hears in confession is hearsay and limited in its effect. It is also false to assume that confession is the hotbed of secrecy whereby pedophiles are sheltered and encouraged. This is simply not the case. There is, I think also a degree of hysteria about the confessional by those who don't understand how it operates and fear of what they do not fully understand. 3. I attempted to indicate that a priest who hears confession entirely supports the creation of safe communities where vulnerable people are protected. We are not at all encouraging of those who do extreme harm to others, and nothing said by a priest in confession would in any way convey to a person confessing wrongdoing that it is tolerable to risk even the slightest possibility of further harm or a repetition of crime. I did speak of standing before God in my conscience, but that also includes being faithful to one's vow to treat the confessional as a sacred seal, even if others criticise one for that position too. 4. I am not intending to break the seal of the confessional, which priests are duty bound to keep absolutely sacrosanct. I did indicate that it is not my place or even a bishop's place to change this rule, and I believe even the Pope, I suspect, would feel unable to change this sacred sanctuary. It is true that I said that the highest penalty possible would apply immediately to any priest who dared break that seal and rightly so, because the church holds it as a sacred trust which is of grave significance. I not only appreciate the severity of the penalty but the reasons given by the church as to why this penalty is so high, because it teaches that this seal is absolute and for the purpose of ending wrongdoing not perpetuating it, and for leading a person to face their wrong not to avoid it. 5. I always feel sad when the impression is given of 'rebel priest stands against the hierarchy' which creates a 'them and us' mentality, when we are actually all on the same team, the same side. We are all committed to protecting young people and vulnerable adults. I sincerely assure you that I and other priests and bishops are not here to condone or in any way promote anything that endangers these little ones. I hope this helps clarify the position. I assure you I have no time whatsoever for this heinous and evil and sick crime and we all work to eradicate it. What he said during the interview with journalist Mitch Crawley 1. "I actually don't think it should be left alone because that particular thing is enormously damaging." 2. "If anyone thinks that the problem is solved by forgiving them and keeping quiet, it isn't. This is a sickness that doesn't go away by regular confession and it does enormous damage by doing nothing and it highlights an area where (confession) just simply is not an adequate remedy or treatment for someone's moral and criminal behaviour. 3. "I absolutely do not wish to be part of anything which accidentally, or by omission, allows abuse to continue or someone to continue to abuse. I would have to say, with respect to the law of the land and the church, I must follow what I believe would be my conscience before God. In the end, I would stand before God with my conscience." 4. "You know what. You know what. How do I put this? If you could think of a way to say: I would break it quietly if I was put in that situation". 5. "Put it this way, if it ever happened to me, they wouldn't necessarily know where it came from. I'm not going to sit around and listen to people confess that kind of thing and sit there and do nothing but that is not what the church says."
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