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CNA-personeel, 17 juni 2025 / 11:16 uur (CNA).
Een groep orthodoxe kerken heeft zich aangesloten bij de katholieke bisschoppen van de staat Washington in het aanklagen van de regering over de eis dat geestelijken ofwel het zegel van de bekentenis schenden of gevangenisstraf tegemoet zien.
De Orthodoxe Kerk in Amerika, het Antiochisch-orthodox christelijk aartsbisdom van Noord-Amerika en tal van andere orthodoxe rechtsgebieden op maandag Tientallen ambtenaren in de staat aangeklaagd de grondwettigheid van zijn verplichte verslaggeverswet aanvechten.
Gesigneerd door Gov. Bob Ferguson on May 2, the law goes into effect July 27 and adds clergy to Washington’s list of mandatory reporters for child abuse but explicitly denies them the “privileged communication” exemption granted to other professionals, such as nurses and therapists.
Priesters die nalaten misbruik te melden dat ze tijdens de bekentenis hebben geleerd, kunnen tot 364 dagen gevangenisstraf en een gevangenisstraf krijgen. $5000 boete.
In a Aanklacht vorige maand ingediend in federal district court, the Catholic bishops of the state emphasized the Church’s commitment to child protection while defending the inviolability of the confessional seal.
The Orthodox leaders in their lawsuit similarly argued that Orthodox priests “have a strict religious duty to maintain the absolute confidentiality of what is disclosed in the sacrament of confession.”
“Violating this mandatory religious obligation is a canonical crime and a grave sin, with severe consequences for the offending priest, including removal from the priesthood,” the suit says.
The state’s law explicitly allows for numerous other exemptions for those otherwise required to report child abuse. Washington “is now the only state whose mandatory reporter law explicitly overrides the religious clergy-penitent privilege” while allowing the other exemptions, the lawsuit says.
The Orthodox leaders said they “do not object to alerting authorities when they have genuine concerns about children that they learn outside of confession.” Rather, they are demanding that the state “give the clergy-penitent privilege the constitutional protection it is due as a fundamental religious obligation.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, claims the state’s law violates the First and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. It asks the court to block the law and declare it unconstitutional.
Spokane-bisschop Thomas Daly een verklaring vorige maand Hij zwoer dat geestelijken het zegel van de biecht niet zouden verbreken, zelfs als het gevangenistijd zou betekenen.
“I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishops and priests, are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” Daly said in his message to the faithful. “The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane.”
Het Amerikaanse ministerie van Justitie een onderzoek gestart into the law on May 6, calling it an “anti-Catholic” measure.
Assistent-procureur-generaal van de VS Harmeet Dhillon beschreef het as a “legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession,” arguing it singles out clergy by denying them privileges afforded to other professionals.