The Catholic Church is forced to excommunicate any priest who has been accused of abusing children under a new Washington State Act, which would require the Church to inform the offender party to the authorities.
It Catholic Church It is said to be forced to excommunicate any priest who has been charged abusing children. By virtue of a new Washington State Act, the Church will have to do Reporting infression of child abuse Authorities, who, in turn, will give rise to the offender being excommunicated.
Reports indicated that the law, which will come into force on July 27, will Eliminate long -term confidentiality of the confessional and apparently Strength the Catholic officials and legislators in a highly charged impact on religious freedoms and the protection of children. The law is already facing objections.
Newsweek reported that the Archdiocese of Seattle and several bishops had answered the law, saying that not only contravenes the doctrine of the Church, but also through constitutional lines. Those who support the law say that it really helps to protect minors from predators.
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According to the departure, the law highlights the continuous tension between religious freedom and the duty of the state to protect children from being abused by adults. Washington’s new law also joins a small group of states that have been working dismantle traditional protections of confidentiality.
The passage of law has also aroused the old conversation over the limits of the Church and the State, which could have lasting implications for religious practices and privileged communications across the country. The Law will also affect the way other states approach the required information requirements of the clergy, especially as the groups of constitutional rights and civil rights enter the debate.
According to the canonical law of the Catholic Church, a set of ordinances and regulations made by the ecclesiastical authority, currently calls a breach of the confessional label a serious crime. “A confessor who directly violates the confession stamp incorporates an automatic excommunication reserved for the apostolic voice,” says the law.
Newsweek reported that the United States Department of Justice is investigating whether the law violates the rights of the Church’s first amendment. “This is very controversial because it directly challenges a basic element of Catholic faith,” said Professor Michele Dillon, an expert in Catholicism at New Hampshire University.
“In order for the government to require priests to report any case of sexual abuse that they learn through the sacrament of confession, the core of the sacrament would directly violate and its importance in the life of Catholics,” said Dillon. “The Church has made significant advances in recent years to safeguard children for sexual abuse, and it is unfortunate that the controversy led to the law of the Washington State.”
According to Dillion, he is concerned that “the opposition of the Church is based on basic belief and theological practice, it can mistakenly convey to people who do not know the total sense of the sacrament that the Church is opposed to simply to evade the treatment of sexual abuse.” Other religious experts have declared the same concerns.
“This is” the stamp of confession “, that is, the rule that when a priest feels a confession, he cannot be shared,” is Professor Anthea Butler, President of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of University PennsylvaniaHe said to the starting. “If shared, the canonical law is violated. A priest can be excommunicated to break the confessional’s stamp.”