Catholic leaders in Washington have sued the state over a new law requiring clergy to report suspected child abuse, including details potentially revealed during confession.
The lawsuit, filed last week on behalf of the bishops, alleges Senate Bill 5375, which was signed into law on May 2, violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The law “puts Roman Catholic priests to an impossible choice: violate 2,000 years of Church teaching and incur automatic excommunication, or refuse to comply with Washington law and be subject to imprisonment, fine, and civil liability,” the lawsuit states.
The law’s text doesn’t target Catholics specifically. In fact, it upholds the mandatory reporting requirement for ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, elders or a “spiritual leader of any church, religious denomination, religious body, spiritual community or sect,” adding to a list that includes school employees and health care workers. The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Noel Frame, said she was motivated to create this bill following reports that Jehovah’s Witnesses covered up child sexual abuse for years.
But the Catholic bishops, of a denomination that has also been roiled over several years by child sex abuse scandals, argue in their filing that the law could be used to force them to violate their oaths if they’re forced to relay child abuse information provided during confessions.
The New York Times offered some helpful context here:
Clergy are considered mandated reporters in a majority of states, meaning they are legally obligated to report to authorities if they suspect a child is being abused. In most states, however, the state reserves protections for the clergy-penitent relationship. In seven states, including New Hampshire and West Virginia, there is no such exception. (In Tennessee, the privilege is denied only in cases of child sexual abuse.) It’s not clear that any priests have been prosecuted or penalized in those states over failing to report abuse that they learned about during a confession. In other words, the Washington state law isn’t wholly unprecedented, even if it’s controversial to some Catholics. And one might think the Trump administration, which has made a show of cracking down on purported child abuse, might support legislation such as this, which appears equipped to help Washington do so as well. But the Justice Department last month launched an investigation into the law, framing it as “anti-Catholic.” In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, who is Catholic, “I’m disappointed my Church is filing a federal lawsuit to protect individuals who abuse kids.” Ferguson has stated previously that Catholic Bishops potentially having to reveal child abuse claims they hear during confession didn’t give him pause. “I’m very familiar with it,” he said. “Been to confession, myself. I felt this was important legislation for protecting kids.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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