Headline: Christians told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police
Highlights of text: Christians have been told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police.
Guidance from the diocese of Canterbury says clergy must tell penitents that if their confession "raises a concern about the wellbeing or safeguarding", the priest will be "duty bound" to tell the "relevant agencies".
The issue was raised during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year, amid concerns that evidence of abuse could be kept from the authorities
A penitent "shared with a priest information about ongoing abuse. In this case, the legal and moral position of the priest was called into question," he said.
He [Mr Hills] insisted that the arrangement did not "abolish the seal of the confessional" but was "intended to advise the penitent not to divulge in confession something which would legally compromise the position of the priest".
TL;DR: the Anglican Church have abolished their seal of confession due to sex abuse issues, and have advised Christians to withhold confessing mortal sins to avoid jail (essentially)
Comment: This pretty much confirms that the CoE is just a state puppet at this point. While Anglican orders aren't actually apostolic/legitimate/etc. this is still pretty worrying. It makes one wonder if the UK government will try to convince other churches to follow suit, though I doubt the Church will ever give in to such pressure.
I had a thought The Anglicans is a state church, so there aren't true Christians in there. At the same time, it has christian in the name so people think that its a palace of sexist traditionalists
The whore-queen Elizabeth who paraded herself around as a "virgin", trying to convince the world that she was like The Blessed Virgin despite laying with every young man and diplomat she met made it a state church. Her father started the death of The Church in england, she finished it.
The Gates of Hell have once again prevailed againts a protestant church. First Sweden, now England. What a shock.
So the statement is true - he may be obligated under civil law to pass on the info, but forbidden by the law of God. Presumably in this case absolution would be withheld until the person did the appropriate action, as the only way out of this Gordian knot.
Jackson Morales
christianity is dead
Easton Diaz
So the Anglicans have lost their confessional seal at the same time that UK police have put a confessional seal on muslim sex crimes?
Easton Walker
Do you believe in Christ? Then you also must believe that whatever trials we face, that it will all be set right in the end. If you DON'T believe in Christ, then I struggle to understand why you'd be concerned about any of this.
Brody Peterson
APOSTOLICS NO!
Luis Lewis
Imagine actually being anglican
Eli Hughes
He's talking about the Catholic Church bro.
Lucas Brooks
...
Isaiah Barnes
Christ is risen brother.
Connor Adams
Good job anglicans
William Brown
why would you even listen to that phaggot
Ayden Hernandez
Actually, we have a hierarchy going on in here. Law of God trumps any civil law. So no, no Gordian Knot in here.
Actually he's saying that the schismatic-turned-heretic protestant denomination with no acknowledged apostolic succession by any apostolic church whatsoever is doing a good thing by turning in sex criminals.
I see little wrong with this, the confessional is not a "get out of jail free" card. So long as the disclaimer is up front, and everyone knows.
I can see that it might be a problem with people wishing to confess serious crimes, but they can do that before the authorities – if they are serious about repentance.
Luke Cook
That's not how confession works or should work.
Elijah Martinez
Didn't they say that it's only information about 'ongoing abuse' where they have reason to believe people will be hurt if they don't act, that they will disclose to police? As opposed to Catholic practice which is, I guess: I think God can forgive your sins without involving a middleman in the first place, but if you do choose to get a middleman involved, and he knows children will suffer if he doesn't step in, he has a duty to do so.
Caleb Wilson
Easy solution.
Sebastian Murphy
the priest is forbidden to command the penitent to reveal his sins, otherwise the confessional seal would have a pretty big loophole. The priest may, however, gently or forcefully advise such an action… but cannot make it an obligatory penance.
Connor Hughes
His duty to God is the confessional seal, which is why people approach him in the first place.
Angel Bailey
Pathetic joke church that only exists because fat king wanted more wives becomes more of a pathetic joke
Don't see the part about confessing publicly before the altar in that. Also, I think you're confusing public confession with public penance. Those aren't the same thing at all, and that article makes it clear that confession was only required to be done to a priest.
Ryder Phillips
Tradition developed private confession as a mercy (rather than penalty) to penitents: instead of publicly confessing — which was the norm in the very early centuries of the Church, and where the penances assigned were oftentimes harsh and severe — the Church developed a mechanism for private and anonymous reception of the sacrament, and total secrecy regarding the contents of the confession. Holy priests choose martyrdom over revealing what penitents confess.
Blake Evans
That's a weird conclusion since there's no solid evidence given for public confession. Regardless, Church discipline has evolved so I don't see the point in that being relevant. A priest is bound under penalty of excommunication to keep the seal of confession, and canon law prohibits him from using confessions to the detriment of the penitent.
Can. 983 §1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.
Can. 984 §1. A confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded.
Lucas Bennett
I completely agree. However, absolution can be withheld, and public disclosure can be a condition thereof. I hope that's all that they're saying.
Brayden Garcia
No, it cannot. Under no circumstances must the seal be broken. Here's the only citation from a priest on the internet I could find quickly:
[quote="bobolink, post:1, topic:212763"]
Can a priest withhold absolution on condition that a penitent hand himself in to law enforcement?
Can a priest compel a penitent to go the the police as a pre-condition for absolution?
[/quote]
No.
And No.
The priest can never require any penitent to do anything which would reveal the penitent's guilt. No. Nay. Never. No never nomore. Nothing.
This comes up every few months, so just to anticipate the follow-up questions, and to anticipate the "but what if….." scenarios, the answer will still be the same: No.
Once again, whatever else gets posted here, because inevitably people will post again and ask "but what if….." The answer will still be the same: No.
One last time, folks, whatever you are thinking of posting, the answer will still be: No.
Unfortunately, I'm sure we'll get the "but what if…" scenarios because someone out there will try to imagine a scenario where the answer will be yes. It won't be. The answer will still be: No.
About FrDavid96? Yeah, he's certainly a priest, given how Catholic Answers has strict rules regarding identifying yourself as a priest on their forum.
Hunter Thomas
Um, yes you can, by going to confession intending to do nothing meaningful about your guilt
John Sanchez
No you can't.
If you go to confession without an honest intent of repentance, the confession will be invalid. If you repent without going to confession, you'll still live with grave sins and your penance will be for nothing. You cannot have one and not the other.
Grayson Howard
Henry never got divorced He created the CoE to stop papal influence and plunder church assets
