Washington bill would jail priests for not breaking Seal of Confession: ‘No exemption’
A Democratic state senator in Washington wants to mandate that priests commit an excommunicable offense or face jail time for not breaking the sacred Seal of Confession.
Catholic priest waiting for
penitent in confessionalShutterstock
- 22
Tue Feb 4, 2025 - 11:06 am EST
Listen to this article
0:00 / 7:11
1X
OLYMPIA, Washington (LifeSiteNews) — Priests should break the Seal of Confession or face nearly a year in prison, according to a Democratic state senator in Washington.
Sen. Noel Frame has once again introduced legislation trying to make Catholic priests report abuse that they hear of during Confession – this time saying there will be “no exemption.” There is a hearing on a companion bill in the Washington House of Representatives today. A vote in committee is scheduled for tomorrow.
While Frame, a Democrat, said the bill will eliminate exemptions, it actually singles out priests while protecting other “privileged communications.” Spouses, attorneys, and advocates for sexual assault victims are among those who retain their right to not disclose suspicions of abuse.
Priests face automatic excommunication for violating the confessional. Canon 1386 states: “A confessor [priest] who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”
Last year, Frame worked alongside the Washington Catholic Conference on a bill that would have created a “duty to warn the department or law enforcement when they have reasonable cause to believe that a child is at imminent risk of being abused or neglected, even if that belief is informed by information obtained in part as a result of a penitential communication.”
At the time, Sen. Frame and the Catholic Conference gave contradictory explanations for the bill. Frame told her colleagues that she wanted to go further and eliminate all exemptions, but that such a bill could not pass. Meanwhile, the Catholic Conference said they supported this bill because they feared a law eliminating all exemptions would pass, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.
This year, Frame is not working with the Catholic Conference, which opposes her bill. She said she is a victim of childhood sexual abuse, but not by a priest. She is an adult Catholic convert who said she has left the Church.
The bill exempts priests from being forced to testify, but they would still need to go to authorities to alert them to potential abuse. This would presumably require them to identify the potential abuser – the person they heard a Confession from.
Sen. Frame dismissed what she called “religious freedom” concerns about the bill during a hearing last week.
She referenced an investigation by then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson into possible abuse cover-up by Washington Catholic leaders as a reason she could not “stomach” religious freedom objections to her bill.
Haut du formulaire
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY HEADLINES
US Canada Catholic
Bas du formulaire
“I have tried really hard over the last couple of years to find a balance and to strike a careful compromise,” she said, before saying “sorry” for not being able to “make a compromise anymore.” She criticized efforts to protect clergy-penitent privilege “in the name of religious freedom.”
She said the bill does not change “prosecution,” but the law does not state that clergy won’t face it.
Survivors of sexual abuse and activists supported the bill. However, a Washington bishop and the Catholic Conference spoke out against the legislation, prompting a testy exchange.
Bishop Frank Schuster, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle, began his testimony by thanking abuse victims, including Frame, for sharing their stories. He shared how he was able to counsel a “young man” who came to him before he went to meet up with someone he meant online. Bp. Schuster shared how in that context he was able to alert the authorities and the boy’s parents and help the person avoid a dangerous situation.
