Vatican Defends Secrecy of Catholic Confessions Amid Priest Sex Scandals

By | July 3, 2019

  • July 3, 2019 at 3:10 pm
    John Edwards says:
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    Change the word secrecy to privacy and see how differently the story reads.

    Words have connotations. Privacy: good; secrecy: bad.

    • July 3, 2019 at 6:29 pm
      craig cornell says:
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      Good call. The Insurance Journal is never biased, is never biased, is never biased. . .

    • July 5, 2019 at 10:21 am
      Here's the thing... says:
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      When you diddle little choir boys, you give up all rights to “privacy”. When your institution does it systematically and covers it up for decades, it’s called secrecy.

  • July 4, 2019 at 7:58 am
    David says:
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    I am a Catholic. And I support my church on this. Threw out history, many priests have died protecting the sanctity of the confessional. Many priests that I know have claimed that God has blessed them by allowing them to 100% forget everything that happens in the confessional as soon as they leave it.
    For Catholics, confession, or as we call it reconciliation, is the only way to become right with God. And that fact that the priest can not tell anyone what we say in reconciliation is what gives us the strength to admit our transgressions.
    Forcing priests to reveal what is said in reconciliation, denies the priest salvation and stops other people from going into the confessional and receiving salvation as well.
    It is 100% an attack on the free expression of faith of Catholics. It is 100% a violation of the Constitution and no priest would obey that law.

    • July 8, 2019 at 10:05 am
      jsmooth says:
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      David – I have a question I’ve always wanted to ask a Catholic; Do you confess everything to the Priest? The little stuff (I yelled at someone in traffic today), the medium stuff (I was rude to someone on insurancejournal.com today) AND the big stuff (I cheated on my wife with a dolphin)? Does the Priest ever say anything? I’m not Catholic, so I have no idea how confession works.

      • July 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm
        CarrierGuy says:
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        As Catholics, we’re required to confess mortal sins, and encouraged to confess venial sins (the minor stuff). What a person does is a matter of individual practice. Most priests will offer helpful advice and guidance to help us make amends and improve our lives to avoid these sins in the future. I believe (without knowing for certain) that priests will give strong, reasoned advice to people who confess actual crimes to accept the consequences of their actions, including turning themselves in to the police where appropriate.

        Right now, the Catholic Church is doing far more to root out these unacceptable actions and those who perpetrate them than other institutions in our society, to include schools, gymnastics coaches, other religions, etc. More work remains to be done, but I see the evidence everywhere that the past practices of the 70s and 80s are over, and everything is oriented around prevention, removal, prosecution – and healing for the victims.

      • July 9, 2019 at 4:35 pm
        Bob says:
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        I was raised Catholic, and my experience was in line with Carrierguy. If it helps at all, there seems to be consistency on this within the Church.

    • July 8, 2019 at 11:36 am
      Agent says:
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      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

      • July 8, 2019 at 2:36 pm
        Jon says:
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        This is a stupid, leading question. You’re not trying to debate you’re trying to yell about your side.

    • July 10, 2019 at 10:23 am
      Theresa says:
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      “Throughout” not “threw out”

  • July 12, 2019 at 10:43 am
    chiponthecape says:
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    Nice catch Theresa!



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