Video Information
On December 15, 2017, Al Jazeera English televised a report on the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Commission made recommendations regarding ending the confidentiality of Confession as one measure to improve the reporting of child abuse within the Catholic Church.
On December 15, 2017, Press TV televised a report on the release of the recommendations of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The news report details some of these recommendations. It includes the comments of a critic of the Catholic Church that there has been no proper accountability within the Catholic Church for those guilty of these crimes.
On August 17, 2017, Perspectives Daily published a report on the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It focuses on the report's requirement that priests be obliged to reveal information about sex abuse obtained during confession.
(Please note, the relevant report begins 1 minute and 26 seconds into the Perspectives Daily program.)
On June 13, 2018, Perspectives Daily televised the recent decision by the Australian Capital Territory to require priests to report information about child sexual abuse gained within confession.
(Please note, the relevant report begins 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the Perspectives Daily program.)
On September 24, 2014, Catholic Voices UK televised a report on consideration being given to breaking the seal of confession by the Church of England in cases of child sexual abuse. This follows the Anglican Church of Australia having already made this change. The report argues that the seal of the confession should remain.
On July 3, 2018, ABC News reported on the conviction of Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson who has been sentenced to 12 months detention for concealing instances of child sexual abuse.
On July 3, 2018, BBC News televised a report on the concealing of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Australia. It interviewed a child sexual abuse survivor who had reported his abuse to Philip Wilson and been ignored.
On December 12, 2017, the Sydney Morning Herald televised an interview with former prime minister, Julia Gillard, seeking her reactions to the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Gillard had set up the Commission during her prime ministership.
On March 8, 2016, High School Religion published an explanation and justification under Canon Law of the Seal of Confession.
In March 2016, Fr. Jeff Beyhe of the diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was found not to have committed a crime in not having passed on to police information he received during Confession about sex between an adult and a minor. The priest argues that, despite this ruling, freedom of religion, as guaranteed under the American Constitution, is being threatened.
On March 31, 2014, the New York Times released a report on sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church in the United States.
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Catholic priests and the mandatory reporting of child 'sexual abuse: should admissions made in the Confessional have to be reported?
- Web links, documents and video clips
On June 17, 2018, the ABC published an analysis piece titled 'Priests say they won't break the seal of confession, but what does that mean?' which explains the religious significance of the sacrament of confession and the importance of confidentiality within it.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 16, 2018, The Sydney Morning Herald published a comment titled 'Church must lift seal of confession to help protect children' by Chrissie Foster, the mother of two daughters sexually abused by a Catholic priest.
(This is slightly different from a comment by the same author published on August 18, 2017, in The Australian.)
The comment argues that the seal of confession has allowed for and prompted the activities of child abusers.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 9, 2018, the Catholic News Agency published a report titled 'Australian bishop protests law requiring priests to break seal of confession'. The report detailed the opposition of Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn to the recent changes made to the law in the Australian Capital Territory requiring priests to break the seal of the confession.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 6, 2018, The Canberra Times published an opinion piece by Christopher Prowse, the Catholic Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, titled 'Reporting scheme shouldn't ignore Catholic community's concerns'. The comment outline many of the concerns about a loss of religious freedom the archbishop believes are concerning Catholics.
The full text can be accessed at
On May 23, 2018, The Adelaide Advertiser published a comment by Michelle James titled 'Catholics must break confessional seal'. The opinion piece counters some of the arguments put by Catholic clerics regarding maintaining the seal of the confession and criticises the Catholic Church for not having responded to other recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The full text can be accessed at
On April 3, 2018, the Greens Justice Spokesperson, David Shoebridge, issued a media release titled 'NSW Government puts religion ahead of children by failing to abolish the secrecy of the confessional' which criticises the New South Wales government for its failure to draft a law which would require Catholic priests in that state to report child sexual abuse revealed during confession.
The full text can be accessed at
On 15 December 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse released its Final Report Recommendations which included changes to secular law which would extend mandatory reporting obligations to priests regarding information they had received through the confessional.
The full text can be accessed at
On December 13, 2017, a comment titled 'The Seal of the Confession: resorting to the Age of Christendom', which examines, from the perspective of one Catholic layman, the need to reform various aspects of church doctrine, was published on John Menadue's Internet site 'Pearls and Irritations'
The full text can be accessed at
On November 10, 2017, a fact sheet was released detailing a recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The fact sheet explains the Commission's recommendation that a new offence be established titled 'Failure to report offence'.
The offence would be committed by any person in an institutional setting who 'fails to report to police in circumstances where they know, suspect, or should have suspected that an adult associated with the institution was sexually abusing or had sexually abused a child.'
The full text can be accessed at
On September 9, 2017, The Australian published an opinion piece by Gerard Henderson titled 'Sanctity of confessional early test of religious freedom'. Henderson argues that there is no clear casual connection between the seal of the confession and the sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church.
The full text can be accessed at
On August 18, 2017, The Australian published a comment by Chrissie Foster titled 'Evil hid behind handy seal of confession'
In the opinion piece, Foster, the mother of two daughter sexually abused by a Catholic priest, gives detailed evidence of the harmful effects of the seal of confession.
The full text can be accessed at
On August 16, 2017, The Guardian published a comment by Joanna Moorhead, titled 'Even for child abusers, confessional confidentiality is sacrosanct' The opinion piece explains the centrality of the seal of confession in offering the possibility of contrition and reconciliation to wrongdoers.
The full text can be accessed at
On August 16, 2017, the British National Secular Society published a comment by Keith Porteous Wood titled 'The confessional shouldn't shield child abuse from reporting'
The opinion piece gives an overview of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and includes instances of British child abusers who were protected by the seal of the confession.
On August 16, 2017, The Catholic Weekly published an article titled ' Archbishop Anthony Fisher defends Seal of Confession' which details the arguments put by the archbishop supporting the secrecy of the confessional.
The full text can be accessed at
On August 14, 2017, ABC News published an analysis titled 'Breaking the seal of confession could pit church against state' The analysis considers some of the implications for relations between the Catholic Church and state and federal governments of some of the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
On December 4, 2016, Eureka Street published a comment by Father Frank Brennan titled 'Why the seal of the confessional should remain intact'
Father Brennan details why the seal of the confession should not be broken, drawing on theological considerations and his own experience as a priest.
The full text can be accessed at
On November 14, 2012, The Conversation published a comment titled ' Children's rights versus freedom of religion: the sanctity of the confessional seal' by Sarah Joseph, director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University.
Joseph looks at the debate surrounding the seal of the confession from the perspective of two sets of conflicting rights and ultimately argues that children's right to protection should prevail.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 11, 2014, The Conversation published a comment by Renae Barker, lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia, titled 'Anglican shift on confessions puts abuse victims' interests first'. The opinion piece details approvingly the decision taken by the Anglican Church of Australia to extend the grounds under which the seal of the confession can be broken to include receiving information about child abuse.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 11, 2014, The Catholic Herald published a news report titled 'Priest could be jailed for refusing to break seal of Confession' The article examines a ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court attempting to compel a priest to reveal evidence regarding sexual abuse that had been made available during confession.
On July 8, 2014, The Courier Mail published a comment by Alison Coates titled 'Anglican Church votes to let priests break seal of the confessional to prevent child abuse but up to dioceses to adopt policy' Coates explained her support for the decision taken by the Anglican Church of Australia.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 3, 2014, ABC News published a report titled 'Anglican priests to have option of disclosing confessions on serious crimes'
The report details the decision taken by the general synod of the Anglican Church of Australia to allow priests who receive information regarding child sexual abuse during confession to report it to authorities.
The full text can be accessed at
In 2000, Father William Saunders, writing for the Arlington Catholic Herald, explained the theological significance of the seal of the confession.
The full text can be accessed at
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