A bill in California that would have forced Catholic priests to violate the seal of the confessional in the name of child sex abuse has been withdrawn from consideration this year:
BREAKING: SB 360, the bill which would deny the seal of confession to priests and employees of the Catholic church has been pulled from committee and is effectively removed from consideration this year.
— CaCathConf (@CACatholicConf) July 8, 2019
BREAKING: Thanks to your efforts, #SB360 was pulled from the agenda for tomorrow’s Assembly Public Safety Committee effectively removing it from any further consideration this year. Read more from the @CACatholicConf: https://t.co/8HRL8kxD1V #KeepTheSeal
— Archdiocese of LA (@lacatholics) July 8, 2019
Here’s more from California Catholic Conference:
The day before hundreds of Catholics were planning to voice their opposition by attending a hearing in the Capitol, SB 360 was pulled from agenda for tomorrow’s Assembly Public Safety Committee effectively removing it from any further consideration this year.
SB 360 Mandated reporters: clergy (Hill, D-San Mateo) attempted to deny the sanctity of confession when it comes to child sexual abuse to priests and to Catholics who work with priests in parishes, Church agencies and ministries.
The action follows the delivery of tens of thousands of letters, emails and phone calls from Catholics and others concerned with the free expression of religion. Hundreds more planned on boarding buses from as far away as Los Angeles to voice their opposition tomorrow.
Andrew Rivas, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, expressed his thanks to the Californians who reached out to their legislators to oppose SB 360:
“An amazing number of people spoke to their legislators to explain the sacred nature of the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” said Rivas. “It is important to our spirituality and our relation to God and to others. Our thanks go to all who played a part.”
This is a huge win for Catholics everywhere, but especially in California.
Priests have been killed in the history of the church because they would not violate the sacred seal of confession. And for much of this year it looked like California priests might end up in jail over this new law. But even more so, many of the faithful would not have had the confidence necessary to give a good confession, being uncertain if a priest would end up caving to a blasphemous law due to coercion, and that would have been chaos in the church.
But, as you may already be thinking, this would have had grave implications on any privileged speech in the state of California if it had passed. If these fascists were willing to violate the seal of confession, what would stop them from violating any and all confidences in the name of child sex abuse?