Archbishop: confession needs 'discussion'

Daily Mail (UK)
June 25, 2014

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-2669023/Archbishop-confession-needs-discussion.html

The Catholic archbishop of Adelaide says the church needs to discuss the responsibilities of priests to whom a crime is confessed.

Philip Wilson was asked at a royal commission hearing into child sexual abuse what happened if someone confessed to a crime against a child.

The archbishop explained that a firm commitment of amendment would be required before the penitent could be given absolution.

That meant the person had to commit to something that showed the behaviour would stop.

"If you heard that in confession, you have the ability to say to them, 'as a consequence of this you must fulfil the obligation of the law'," he said.

The bargaining for absolution was something a priest had to do in the confessional, he told Justice Peter McClellan, who pointed out it left the priest with the knowledge that the person was at least a potential danger to children.

Archbishop Wilson said any confession a priest hears leaves him with knowledge about people's behaviour that could cause problems in all their relationships, not just in regard to children.

It was a problem across the board, he said.

Justice McClellan asked if there was any reconciliation in canon (church) law for that difficulty.

The archbishop said confessional secrecy was one of the highest values "that governs our ministry as priests".

The questions that were raised about the responsibility of a confessor in regard to someone that confesses a crime is something that needs to be discussed, he said.

"Because we have to be able to maintain our commitment to confessional secrecy, but at the same time there must be some way these difficulties are dealt with."

He said the matter went beyond any comments he might make because it was only his opinion.

But he thought, "they are things that need to be discussed".