CHURCH-CONFESS SECRETS IN DANGER KENTUCKY
New York Post
January 12, 2003 -- FRANKFORT, Ky. - A legislator who worked with abused kids as a therapist has introduced a bill to remove some of the secrecy of the confessional.
The bill would change Kentucky's "clergy-penitent privilege" so that it would not apply to any confession of abuse or neglect of a child.
The sponsor, Democratic Rep. Susan Westrom of Lexington, said "horror stories" of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and of alleged concealment of abuse by Jehovah's Witnesses prompted the bill.
If enacted, men and women of the clergy would be no different than counselors and therapists. Confessions of child abuse or neglect would not be legally protected. A separate Kentucky law requires people with knowledge of abuse to report it.