Last week, I mentioned the “sanctity of the confessional” in the post on high control religions. It occurred to me afterwards that it’s entirely probable there are people out there who are not familiar with the term and may not be aware of its uses and problems and loopholes. So here we go!
What is a confessional?
The confessional is the fancy box in a Catholic Church where people go to make their confessions. It’s usually three compartments in a row: the one in the middle is where the priest goes, with sliding windows into the two at the for the penitent sit or kneel in. The priest would slide open one window and slide closed the other to hear a confession. It’s meant to be private, and the priest is not technically meant to even know whose confession he’s hearing.
This is, of course, less true in practice. A priest who has served in a given parish for longer than 3 months will learn to recognise certain parishioners voices and habits. Not to mentioned, these days, it’s few enough people going to confession in Ireland anyway…
The whole point is to unburden your soul of sin. It’s one of the seven sacraments of the Church. The full list?
- Baptism
- Confession
- Communion
- Confirmation
- Holy Orders (men only)
- Marriage
- Last Rites (Anointing of the Sick)
In the Roman Catholic faith, you get plenty of chances to confess throughout your life and the idea is that it is a continual process. It wasn’t always this way of course, but at one stage in Ireland, the weekly trip to confession was absolutely necessary if you didn’t want to get turned away by the priest at Communion. Kinda putting paid to the “anonymous” idea…
What is the sanctity of the confessional?
In shorthand, it’s the Catholic Church’s version of “what happens in Vegas…” OK that’s a bit glib, but listen to me. It’s written into Canon Law. Or at least the Catechsim. Quoting Canon 983.1 of the Code of Canon Law, the Catechism states, “…It is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason”.
Now, the theological reasons for this are fairly well grounded.
The whole point of making a confession is to unburden your soul to God. The priest is there so someone human hears it, but essentially, the trust is between you and God. No one else. So, the sanctity of the confessional is paramount in keeping that sacred trust. The thinking is that in unburdening their soul, the penitent is engaging with a sacred ritual, and should be free to say what they wish with no intervention from anyone else but the priest.
A priest, therefore, cannot break the seal to save his own life, to protect his good name, to refute a false accusation, to save the life of another, to aid the course of justice (like reporting a crime), or to avert a public calamity. He cannot be compelled by law to disclose a person’s confession or be bound by any oath he takes, e.g. as a witness in a court trial. A priest cannot reveal the contents of a confession either directly, by repeating the substance of what has been said, or indirectly, by some sign, suggestion, or action. A Decree from the Holy Office (Nov. 18, 1682) mandated that confessors are forbidden, even where there would be no revelation direct or indirect, to make any use of the knowledge obtained in the confession that would “displease” the penitent or reveal his identity.
The church takes this pretty seriously and has gone up against the law on many occasions for this. There are stories of priests being killed, tortured, imprisoned, etc for refusing to give up information given to them as part of the sacrament.
And this is admirable.
However…
Problems
I’m sure you can see the problems right?
This brings a priest right into conflict with the Children First Act (2015). Section 14…
- (1) Subject to subsections (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7), where a mandated person knows, believes or has reasonable grounds to suspect, on the basis of information that he or she has received, acquired or becomes aware of in the course of his or her employment or profession as such a mandated person, that a child—
(a) has been harmed,
(b) is being harmed, or
(c) is at risk of being harmed,
he or she shall, as soon as practicable, report that knowledge, belief or suspicion, as the case may be, to the Agency.
(2) Where a child believes that he or she—
(a) has been harmed,
(b) is being harmed, or
(c) is at risk of being harmed,
and discloses that belief to a mandated person in the course of the mandated person’s employment or profession as such a person, the mandated person shall, subject to subsections (5), (6) and (7), as soon as practicable, report that disclosure to the Agency.
There’s a whole section of the Act that outlines the “mandated persons”, many of which might apply to a priest, but priests are specifically called out in Schedule 1 to do with activities:
“Any work or activity as a minister or priest or any other person engaged in the advancement of any religious beliefs which would or could bring that minister, priest or other person, as the case may be, into contact with a child.”
So… you can see how this would affect things. Children go through confession from the age of about 8ish (in Ireland it’s done through schools – don’t start me – so it’s done by class….) And many of the survivors of the industrial schools and the mother and baby homes and orphanages run by clergy… have all outline the many, many ways the “sanctity of the confessional” could be used to protect abusers.
That’s focusing mainly on children, of course. It could protect the perpetrators of many crimes – and did! And of course, as part of the act of reconciliation, the confessor (the priest) is meant to encourage the sinner to come forward to the law, make amends, etc. But that’s counselling and enforceable. Although, the confessor could withhold forgiveness, but that’s another days work.
When can it be useful?
Well, there is spiritual relief in unburdening your soul. I firmly agree with that. I just don’t think it should protect you from the law. On the other hand, priests have used the sanctity of the confessional to help with rebel organisations throughout Irish history -or at least the 800 years where we were (and some parts still are) colonised by our neighbours to our east…
Mind you, torture was used in those situations as well, and some stories were better than others in the outcome.
Where does this leave us?
For many years, centuries, the Roman Catholic Church was an immense power in its own right in Europe. And it got to set the rules and expect rulers to obey.
It’s not the case any more and there are many occasions when rulers have, for good or ill, disagreed with the church. The sanctity of the confessional is one where the church won’t budge though. And there’s a reluctance to test it in Ireland anyway. (Or there appears to be…)
And there are very sincere priests out there who hold this sanctity and obligation and privilege dear to their hearts. No less sincerely than I hold my own spiritual beliefs. I find it hard to forgive the offenses committed against the oppressed and suffering in our societies in times gone by, particularly those that were further perpetrated by clergy being moved from pillar to post, always just ahead of trouble and rumours and retribution…
