Catholic Church won't break confessional seal on child abuse, despite royal commission

Catholic Church won't break confessional seal on child abuse, despite royal commission

www.abc.net.au...

The Catholic Church will not accept the royal commission's recommendation to lift the seal of confession regarding child sex abuse, arguing it impinges on religious liberties.

Almost nine months after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its findings, the Church has delivered its formal reply.

It said it would not change secrecy rules, meaning clergy do not have to report abuse revealed in the confessional.

Their reasoning seems logical at first glance. But in in the real world all they are doing is what they've done all along. Deny a problem exists, pretend it hasn't been an evil by-product of the very nature of the supposedly celibate priesthood.

"We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people while maintaining the seal. "

We do not see the seal as mutually exclusive."

The Catholic bodies used their response to argue that children would be less safe if mandatory reporting of confessions was required.

A perpetrator or victim might be less likely to raise abuse in confession if confidence in the sacramental seal was undermined, the response said.

What utter BS.

In the Church's eye they'd rather pay our of court settlements with NDA's attached. Throw money at the problem.
And why shouldnt they?
It's not like they had to work hard for that money, just parishioners donations or investment returns from their assets and tax free status.

They hold a privileged position in society, where they above the law.
For how long will our Politicians be in their pocket

theconversation.com...

The federal government has announced it will establish a National Office for Child Safety and issue a formal apology as part of its response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In addition, every state and territory has committed to join the National Redress Scheme. Australia’s major churches and youth organisations have also joined the scheme.

The timing of the announcement meets a commitment of the Council of Australian Governments to respond to the recommendations of the Royal Commission’s final report by June 2018. However, the apology, the lead item of this announcement, will not be issued until October 22, 2018, to coincide with national children’s week.

And there you have it - taxpayers will partly fund the compensation scheme.

When will these institutions be held to account?

Why not use Corporations Law to penalize them or Proceeds Of Crime legislation to strip them of their assets?

I fully support the Catholic Church on this one issue. Government has no right to infringe on religious liberty.

a reply to: Metallicus

We live in a society where Governments usually do the will of the people for the greater good.

Its not a matter of infringing on peoples right to worship or choice of religion.

Its a matter of holding the Church on equal footing with other Corporations where malfeasance or corruption is involved.




The below links will show how Religions /Cults have been denied a foothold in certain countries.

en.wikipedia.org...


en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

While personally I think the catholic church needs to come clean if they ever want to move past this...

usually do the will of the people for the greater good.

This particular phrase makes me cringe... how many people have died under the guise of "greater good", usually pushed by a govt.

This is why churches and religions shouldn't be funded corporations/organizations. This is disgusting. Believe what you want in terms of religion, but this is cult behavior. They're harboring child abusers. Scum of the earth.

God's law and mans law have been set against each other in order to harness power.

That is the secret of the ages.

To combine the two would create a stagnate world.

a reply to: howtonhawky

So, god says it's ok to hide child rapists? Another reason I'm glad I don't believe in him.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Yeah I get that. Why do we need to be governed at all?

The policies of Australia, "white Australia policy", "Stolen children" - generational farming out of Aboriginal children to whites,
invasion of other countries as part of a "Coalition of the Willing"

In this day and age of pedophilia being outed, something has to be done. The Royal Commission proved how endemic these crimes were.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

We live in a society where Governments usually do the will of the people for the greater good.

I am glad that in the U.S. the rights of the individual are respected. It sounds like an excuse to trample on individual liberty.

a reply to: narrator

The way the Church closes ranks is a true Cult feature. The difference between a "declared cult" and a religion is only a matter of semantics and who gets to be shut down.

The law is specific. Investigating and enforcing the Law is a matter of political choice - Police were encouraged to not look too deep into it.

Religions are silly. Good thing God is above all that.

a reply to: howtonhawky

God's law and mans law have been set against each other in order to harness power.

? But so many state laws are based on religious laws.

To combine the two would create a stagnate world.

How so - maybe you could explain this a bit better?

In my view and as mentioned by legal scholars the Law is constantly evolving.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

"The difference between a cult and a religion? A cult is bull#. It was invented by a person who knows it's bull#. In a religion...that dude's dead." - Joe Rogan

Yea, crazy. The fact that police were encouraged to not look into child abuse blows my mind.

a reply to: Metallicus

There's a huge difference between respecting individual liberty and harboring child rapists.

a reply to: Metallicus

Countless examples have been shown where the individual does not matter. You have a Bill of Rights (which we lack) and yet hardly a day goes by where those rights are trampled on.

Heres a recent example

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Former ‘ER’ actress Vanessa Marquez shot and killed by police

Wow! They are in her home for 90 minutes and do not assess the situation in the home as to if there are firearms present out in the open. Seems like they should have determined that it was a bb gun long before she ever touched it. On top of that they are dealing with a situation where they claim she was not in her right mind.

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: howtonhawky

God's law and mans law have been set against each other in order to harness power.

? But so many state laws are based on religious laws.

To combine the two would create a stagnate world.

How so - maybe you could explain this a bit better?

In my view and as mentioned by legal scholars the Law is constantly evolving.

Loosely based on the commandments but actions like sex are often legal.

Jesus said without the law there would be no sin.

The difference between God's law and man's law is the area where energy is formed. Without law there would be no energy. Emotions like suffering are harvested and on another part of the world that same energy is comfort.

It is really something one has too perceive for them selves and most often there is no gain in having someone like me try to explain such complex subjects. It is my beliefs based on reality as i see it.

a reply to: narrator

Right, because Joe Rogan knows.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

Absolutely gotta side with the church on this.

Penance and even baptism is a fundamental problem with Christianity itself. Constantine was baptised receiving his first communion on his death-bed. So according to Christianity, you can murder your father in law, wife and son, get baptised on your deathbed, thus become sinless, and go to heaven.

They will even pronounce wife and son murderers, saints (Constantine was venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches).

No wonder Christianity is so popular, you can eat your cake and eat it too.

Now some Christians are real, I understand that. But this baptism and penance thing has to stop. Its symbolic gesture to help people lift themselves to greater good. It does not wash away sins.

If you guilty of a crime. You need to pay for that crime according to mans law. And if God thinks that payment isn't enough, then watch out - fire and brimstone awaits.

This might be a dumb question but why doesn't the church excommunicate every priest that is caught? No 3 strikes your out just one and done. They love Catholicism so that would be a pretty bad punishment, plus all they know is how to be a priest so they might not know what to do with their lives for the rest of their lives. Also prison.