SHOULD mandatory laws for reporting child abuse be changed to include the clergy?A Catholic priest explains the conduct of the confessional.
IN the Catholic Church, there are various practices that help Catholics mature and grow in their faith through their lives, including the practice of doing penance in various forms.
Over the centuries some of these ways have changed in response to historical circumstances.
For example, in the Middle Ages, pilgrimages were a popular form of penance and devotion.
As the church gained a central place in European society, the nature and practice of penance came to include a private act of people confessing their sins and being given a determined penance.
This coincided with development in the sense of personal responsibility and conscience.
In the 12th century the church began to formalise the list of the seven sacraments that Catholics celebrate today, including the Sacrament of Penance.
In that same era, St Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church, distinguished between sins that wounded, but did not rupture the relationship with God and could be forgiven by a variety of means and those sins that destroyed the relationship with God and could be forgiven only by the person going to the Sacrament of Penance.
Reflection over time on the distinction between these led to the clear formulation of what constitutes serious or mortal sin: grave matter, full knowledge and deliberate consent.
St Thomas Aquinas also discussed the Seal of Confession: the requirement of secrecy on the priest who heard a confession, which had been in church law since the ninth century.
The Council of Trent in the 16th century was held to renew Catholic life and practice.
In regard to the Sacrament of Penance, it required that every Catholic must go to the Sacrament of Penance prior to Easter each year.
Since that time, the practice of the Sacrament of Penance has been influenced by various circumstances, which have affected the frequency of its celebration.
In the early 20th century the encouragement of frequent reception of communion led to more use of the Sacrament of Penance in preparation.
Prior to this, a movement called Jansenism, which inclined towards scrupulosity and a harsh view of human nature, also led to more frequent use of the sacrament among those whom it attracted.
It could be argued that during this time a greater use of the confessional was made than in any other time in the history of the church.
The popular caricature of confession by some "comedians" harks from this era and is trapped in a historical time warp.
The Seal of Confession, the inviolable obligation of secrecy imposed on the priest who hears a sacramental confession, is integral to the Sacrament of Penance.
A penitent comes to the Sacrament of Penance to receive forgiveness from God for their own sins and understands that the priest is but the human agent of God's forgiveness.
He or she speaks from their conscience, with the assurance of privacy and confident in the knowledge that the priest will not seek to know their identity nor discuss the content of their confession with anyone, nor force them to reveal publicly the matters they have confessed. That is, a Catholic priest cannot under any circumstances reveal what has been confessed in the Sacrament of Penance.
The Catholic penitent, for their part, must first be truly sorry for their sins. They are required to do what is possible to repair the harm and do penance.
Calls for the mandatory reporting by clergy of confessions in the Sacrament of Penance will not solve the terrible crime of child abuse.
The issue of mandatory reporting and the Seal of Confession should not be confused with past errors of the Catholic Church in not responding appropriately to cases of sexual abuse.
In the wider context of a priest's pastoral work, the Catholic Church is so concerned to protect children that its safeguards often go beyond the strict requirements of Victoria's Working With Children Act.
The Catholic understanding of the Sacrament of Penance is unique among Western churches.
There is a clearly defined ritual and context surrounding the celebration of the Sacrament, so that it is clear when and to what the confessional seal applies.
Knowledge that a Catholic priest gains outside of the Sacrament of Penance is not bound by the confessional seal and in those circumstances he has the same obligations as any other citizen.
The seal of confession applies only to matters confessed within the Sacrament of Penance, and not in any other counselling or pastoral context.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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