HELENA (MT)
Christian Post [Washington DC]
January 24, 2025
By CP staff
If passed, law could lead to ‘innocent priests’ in jail, priest warns
A group of Democratic lawmakers in Montana have introduced a bill that would require Catholic priests to disclose confessions related to serious crimes, challenging the church’s long-standing tradition of maintaining the confidentiality of the confessional.
Senate Bill 139, titled “Eliminate clergy exemption in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect,” spearheaded by Democratic Sens. Mary Dunwell and Sara Novak, seeks to compel priests to report to authorities if a churchgoer admits to criminal activity, particularly cases of abuse.
Under Montana state law, professionals such as doctors, teachers and law enforcement officials are required to report suspicions of child abuse or neglect to authorities. The proposed legislation would expand this mandate to include clergy, specifically targeting confessions that involve admissions of criminal behavior, with a focus on abuse cases.
SB 139 would eliminate the exemption that states a “member of the clergy or a priest is not required to make a report under this section if the communication is required to be confidential by canon law, church doctrine, or established church practice.”
Other groups, like those whose occupation is identified as “religious healer,” would also be included.
If passed, the bill would impose criminal penalties on clergy who fail to report such confessions, including potential imprisonment.
The proposed law has sparked significant controversy due to its conflict with the Catholic Church’s Canon Law, which explicitly prohibits priests from disclosing anything learned during confession, regardless of the nature of the information.
Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, a Catholic priest and blogger, said this doctrine is rooted in the belief that the priest acts in the person of Christ during the sacrament and remains central to Catholic teaching.
“Canon Law gives us the minimum standard: ‘The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason,’” Schneider wrote on Monday.
He quoted a Catholic apologetics site that reads: “While the priest is the minister of the sacrament, Christ is forgiving the sins, and the priest must not reveal to anyone else what has been really confessed to the Lord.”
Schnieder predicted two possible outcomes if SB 139 is passed.
“First, innocent priests are put in jail,” he said. “Second, it is overturned by the Supreme Court or a U.S. Circuit Court. The civil authorities won’t be extracting information out of this power move over the [Catholic] Church.”
He also said that in the unlikely event the law does pass, it could lead to “imprisoned, and possibly martyred priests.”
Clergy members are already mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect in Montana, according to Catholic News Agency, which noted that Montana law already states that “a member of the clergy or priest may not, without the consent of the person making the confession, be examined as to any confession made to the individual.”
Last March, lawmakers killed a similar proposed bill in Washington state.
Senate Bill 6298, which previously passed the Democrat-controlled Washington state Senate in a vote of 44-5, was defeated in the Washington House Committee on Human Services, Youth & Early Learning in February.