Obeying the Law !

The Roman Catholic Church has now made it quite clear that the " Seal of the Confessional " will remain unchanged and consequently priests will not report confessions of child sexual abuse that they hear in confession to the police.

This is despite a separate report compiled by the Australian bishops and 150 religious orders under the heading of the Truth and Justice Council calling on such reporting to be mandatory.  These - and other recommendations arising from the Royal Commission  that has been running for five years are not the prerogative of the Catholic Church in Australia but would need to be changed by the authorities in the Vatican.

Amongst those recommendations is abolishing the order of celibacy required of priests and an increase in the role of women within the church.  It seems that ninety-eight percent of the recommendations of the Royal Commission have been accepted, but these glaring inconsistencies remain unchanged.

It is highly likely that all the Australian states and its territories will enact a law requiring knowledge of child sexual abuse - no matter how or where gathered - to be reported to the police.  As a consequence, priests who offend are likely to serve prison sentences.

It has become abundantly clear that sexual predation of children has been an inglorious church practice on a world wide basis for a very long period of time. Prosecutors have simply looked the other way to protect the reputation of the church and as a result church attendances in many devoutly Catholic countries have been dropping sharply.  In the broad sphere, Catholics are no longer willing to accept Catholic law which is so out of character with the modern world.

In the view of the Roman Catholic church their order is above the rule of kings and presidents because they answer directly to God.  A Catholic bishop has been found guilty in Australia of failing to report child sexual abuse and is now serving a sentence.  It is quite clear that the laws of Australia apply equally to all religious practitioners and that withholding knowledge of sexual offences against children will result in punishment.

By refusing to change its protocols the church is condemning its priests to a contradiction between the law of the church and the law of the country in which they reside.  Unless they follow the law of Australia they will face prosecution and the disgrace of a conviction and  prison sentence.  It is possible that will further diminish the numbers training for the priesthood.

In the distant past the good name of the church was upheld in almost all circumstances. It was reason for the authorities to look the other way and  for ordinary people to forgive its sins. Those days are gone - forever. That seal of the confessional is fast turning into an accusation of both deceit and odorous practice within the priesthood.    The most probable outcome is that those with the guilt of child sexual predation on their conscience will cease to go to confession.