{"id":34463,"date":"2018-06-05T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=34463"},"modified":"2018-06-04T21:09:25","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T01:09:25","slug":"sex-offenders-told-not-to-confess-their-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2018\/06\/sex-offenders-told-not-to-confess-their-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex Offenders Told Not to Confess Their Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Despite the \u201cseal of confession,\u201d priests in the Church of England are being required to notify authorities if a penitent confesses to committing sexual abuse.\u00a0 Therefore, new guidelines have the priest telling the penitent beforehand not to confess anything that the priest might have to reveal!<\/p>\n

Some churches practice confession and absolution, in which an individual with a troubled conscience confesses his or her sins privately to a minister, who then offers counsel and communicates Christ\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 Though they have different theological understandings of this practice, Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, and Anglicans all do this.\u00a0 And their ministers take strict vows at their ordination never to reveal the sins that have been confessed.\u00a0 Even ministers in other churches, who do not have this practice, hold to rigorous standards of confidentiality in their exercise of pastoral care.<\/p>\n

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The law usually recognizes the pastoral obligation of confidentiality.\u00a0 Thus, pastors are not required to testify as witnesses against someone whom they have counseled or whose confession they have heard.<\/p>\n

See Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s movie I Confess,<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>in which a priest hears the confession of a murderer, only to be framed for that murder himself\u2013but he never violates the seal of confession!\u00a0 Other movies and TV shows have also used this device.\u00a0 Now the normal practice if a penitent confesses a crime is that the pastor counsels the person to turn himself in, to the point of denying him absolution if he does not.\u00a0 True repentance is marked by accepting the punishment that is due for the transgression.<\/p>\n

At any rate, due to the appalling way some churches have covered up sexual abuse, including by ministers themselves, some countries, such as Australia and Ireland, are changing the law to require that priests inform authorities whenever they learn about sexual mistreatment, including from the confessional.\u00a0 And the Church of England is working out changes to the millennia-old practice of the seal of confession.<\/p>\n

But consider this guideline, not only from a theological perspective and from a pastoral care perspective, but from a logical perspective.<\/p>\n

From Olivia Rudgard, in the London Telegraph, Christians told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police:<\/a><\/p>\n

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C<\/span>hristians have been told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police.<\/p>\n

Guidance\u00a0from the diocese of Canterbury<\/a>\u00a0says clergy must tell penitents that if their confession \u201craises a concern about the wellbeing or safeguarding\u201d, the priest will be \u201cduty bound\u201d to tell the \u201crelevant agencies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Church of England canon law states that\u00a0information divulged during confession must be kept secret<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The issue was raised during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year, amid concerns that evidence of abuse could be kept from the authorities.<\/p>\n

The national church is currently considering the issue after a review was launched in 2014, and a working group is due to discuss in December.<\/p>\n

Julian Hills, Diocesan Secretary, said the guidance was formulated after a case where someone told a member of the clergy about abuse during the confessional. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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M<\/span>r Hills said the situation could force a priest to \u201cchoose between their responsibility to protect someone from harm and the usual requirement of confidentiality\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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H<\/span>e insisted that the arrangement did not \u201cabolish the seal of the confessional\u201d but was \u201cintended to advise the penitent not to divulge in confession something which would legally compromise the position of the priest\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, there are the theological and professional issues about pastoral confidentiality.\u00a0 Let\u2019s set those aside for a moment.<\/p>\n

There are also pastoral care considerations.\u00a0 If a person is sinning by sexually abusing someone, should he be denied pastoral care?\u00a0 Do Christ\u2019s atonement and His offer of forgiveness not apply to him?\u00a0 Should the sinner not be allowed to confess that particular sin and be prevented from being absolved for it?\u00a0 But let\u2019s set those questions aside for a moment also.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stipulate that, despite all of these considerations, the pastor should inform authorities if he hears the confession of an abuser.<\/p>\n

But doesn\u2019t advising the penitent \u201cnot to divulge in confession something which would legally compromise the position of the priest\u201d work against the concern to root out sexual abuse?<\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t the priest want<\/em> the penitent to confess any such heinous behavior, so that he could inform the authorities and so that the victim could be rescued?<\/p>\n

Telling someone he shouldn\u2019t confess to his sins is another way of being silent about them!<\/p>\n

These guidelines offer the worst possible solution:\u00a0 The sinner is denied the opportunity for penitence, forgiveness, and possibly a change of behavior.\u00a0 \u00a0The minister announces that he has given up the seal of confession.\u00a0 And<\/em> the abuse is hidden from the authorities and no one helps the victim!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0 Montgomery Clift as Father Logan in I Confess, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.\u00a0 From the 1953 non-copyrighted trailer.\u00a0 Original uploader was Prew at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the \u201cseal of confession,\u201d priests in the Church of England are being required to notify authorities if a penitent confesses to committing sexual abuse.\u00a0 Therefore, new guidelines have the priest telling the penitent beforehand not to confess anything that the priest might have to reveal! Some churches practice confession and absolution, in which an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":34571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,600,26,31,41,47],"tags":[493,7034,7037,3177,3243,5816],"class_list":["post-34463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-crime","category-law","category-movies","category-sex","category-theology","tag-church-of-england","tag-confession-and-absolution","tag-pastors-confidentiality","tag-pastoral-care","tag-seal-of-the-confession","tag-sexual-abuse"],"yoast_head":"\nSex Offenders Told Not to Confess Their Sin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Church of England priests must violate the seal of confession by informing authorities if they hear of sexual abuse. 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