Australia - Priests could be ordered to report confessions of sex abuse to police

by PrincessPeachz 15 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  smiddy

  In case you havent seen it ,the result for the Herald Sun Poll / voteline was in answer to the question : Should preists report to police crimes revealed in the confessional ?

  The results were Yes 42% and No 58%

  My 2 cents worth now is the majority of people do not differentiate between what is a sin and what is a crime ,they are not one and the same thing.

  Do you know what a sin is........?

  Do you know what a crime is.....?

  A sin confessed to a preist is between the confessor and his hearer,I have no problem with that

  A crime confessed to a preist I do have a problem with ,the preist becomes an accompice with the criminal if he does nothing about it .

  This is a ridiculous archaic rule from centuries past

  When is 21st century society going to embrace the modern age

  smiddy
• 

  Chariklo

  This was on ABC news this morning, one question asked: "Should officials in religious and other organisations be held criminally responsible for the actions of offenders of child abuse in their employ or for whom they have responsibility?".

  It seems to be directed primarily at Catholics, but could easily have ramifications for other religions as well. The report is due to be presented in State Parliament in April next year.

  Now, that is VERY interesting.

  If Australia can establish that precedent, it will blow the whole church/cult defence system clean out of the water, and will set free a whole load of victims and families.

  Brilliant. Please keep us posted.
• 

  smiddy

  BTTT
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  FlyingHighNow

  In some countries and states clergy, including priests, are required to report child abuse of any kind that comes to their attention.
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  In the USA, the Episcopal Church of the Americas requires anyone, including teenagers, who works with children to take a course called Safe-guarding God's Children. Other denominations may have similar programs.
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  FlyingHighNow

  This gets confusing. This is one place where a federal law binding on all states would make sense:

  http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/clergymandated.cfm

  The chart below summarizes how States have or have not addressed the issue of clergy as mandated reporters (either specifically or as part of a broad category) and/or clergy-penitent privilege (either limiting or denying the privilege) within their reporting laws.

  	Privilege granted but limited to pastoral communications	Privilege denied in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect	Privilege not addressed in the reporting laws
  Clergy enumerated as mandated reporters	Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Wisconsin	New Hampshire, West Virginia	Connecticut, Mississippi
  Clergy not enumerated as mandated reporters but may be included with "any person" designation	Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Utah, Wyoming	North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas	Indiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, Puerto Rico
  Neither clergy nor "any person" enumerated as mandated reporters	Virginia, Washington 5	Not applicable	Alaska, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, South Dakota, Virgin Islands

  To access the statutes for a specific State or territory, visit the State Statutes Search.