Are Democrats Now Punishing Catholics?
Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect…
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Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mark 10:14)
A new Washington state law, newly signed by Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson, requires Catholic priests to break the seal of confession.
For centuries, Catholics have understood that what is said in the confessional is sacrosanct, never to be revealed or repeated by a priest. The new law allows law enforcement to demand that any priest or other clergy who learns "of any 'reasonable' basis to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect”, they must report it to police.
Ferguson, a Catholic, signed Senate Bill 5375 into law on Friday, May 2. The bill, titled "Concerning the Duty of Clergy to Report Child Abuse and Neglect," makes all clergy members of all denominations mandatory reporters.
The Catholic “seal of confession” prohibits a priest from disclosing anything that is said to him during the Sacrament of Confession.
But, Washington state bishops and priests are pushing back…
On Sunday, May 4, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle released a statement saying that he and other clergy within the archdiocese would not be following the law… announcing their intention to maintain the seal of confession… even to the point of going to jail.
Etienne also added that, “Catholic clergy must not violate the seal of confession or they will be excommunicated from the Church. All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential, and protected by the law of the Church".
It has also been announced that any priest there who complies with the law will be promptly excommunicated…
But the law also applies to ANY "ordained minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder, or similarly situated religious or spiritual leader of any church, religious
denomination, religious body, spiritual community, or sect, or person performing official duties that are recognized as the duties of a member of the clergy.”
Why should Catholic priests be exempt from such a law when clearly other church leaders are not? The Apostle Paul wrote this in his letter to the Romans…
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1-7)
Speaking at the bill's signing, Governor Ferguson remarked that Washington was one of only five states remaining where clergy are not required to report child abuse.
One writer put it this way, “Omitting the seal of confession from the bill was not an accident. The bill's main sponsor, Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), said that it was ‘critical’ that admissions of child abuse that were made during Confession were not exempt. “You never put somebody’s conscience above the protection of a child,” said Frame. Frame, herself a survivor of childhood abuse, was inspired to submit the bill after reading about abuse cover-ups by Jehovah's Witnesses.”
Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect are soul-destroying. Child abuse puts kids on the wrong path and often repeats itself from one generation to the next. Children must be protected under the law with no exceptions…
Mandatory reporting laws typically apply to a wide range of individuals, including school officials, healthcare professionals, social workers, and members of the clergy. This is nothing new.
Washington State lawmakers are not singling out Catholic Clergy… they are acting to protect vulnerable children…
The Bible teaches that child abuse in any form is evil. To force sexual acts upon a child is a horrible, evil offense. Sexual abuse, in particular, violates everything about a child’s physical boundaries and their spiritual connection with God. Anyone who suspects that a child is being abused in any way has a moral and a legal obligation to report it to the appropriate authorities.
With the Catholic leadership’s history of covering up pedophilia and other sexual sins, one has to wonder why they continue to consider themselves above the law.
Pray they reconsider...
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Funny that Ferguson is grandstanding about uncovering child abuse in churches. He could find it much more easily by looking at his colleagues listed in the Epstein files.
Charles Summers: 💯 right.