The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy issued a resolute defense of the seal of confession on June 27, coinciding with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Newsroom (02 July 2025, Gaudium Press ) – The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, representing over 500 Roman Catholic priests and deacons across the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom, issued a resolute defense of the seal of confession on June 27, coinciding with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The statement responds to a growing wave of civil laws, most recently in Washington state, that seek to compel priests to disclose information about child abuse learned during the sacrament of reconciliation or face severe penalties.
Washington’s Senate Bill 5375, signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson on May 3 and effective July 27, mandates that clergy report suspected child abuse, even if learned in confession, with noncompliance carrying penalties of up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. The confraternity’s statement underscores the Catholic Church’s teaching that the seal of confession is inviolable “with absolutely no exceptions,” as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 1467) and the Code of Canon Law (Nos. 983, 1388). Priests who violate this confidentiality face automatic excommunication, reversible only by the pope.
The confraternity argues that such laws infringe on religious liberty while failing to advance justice, citing protections under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, the U.K.’s Human Rights Act of 1998, and Australia’s constitution. The group emphasized the Church’s commitment to child protection through robust policies that support criminal investigation and adjudication without violating religious liberty. It also criticized the Washington law’s exemption of other professionals, such as doctors and therapists, from mandatory disclosure, calling it an unjust double standard. Additionally, the statement highlighted the impracticality of requiring priests to identify anonymous penitents.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) responded swiftly to the law’s passage. On May 8, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Ferguson, a Catholic, announcing an investigation into the law, which she described as a “legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession, a religious practice ordained by the Catholic Church dating back to the Church’s origins.” On June 23, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Washington, asserting that the law violates the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion. “The seal of confidentiality is … the lifeblood of confession,” the DOJ’s brief stated. “Without it, the free exercise of the Catholic religion … cannot take place.”
Washington’s Catholic bishops, including Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne and Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly, filed a separate federal lawsuit on May 29, challenging the law on First Amendment and equal protection grounds. The lawsuit highlighted the Church’s stringent child protection policies, which the bishops said surpass state requirements. “The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have each adopted and implemented … policies that go further in the protection of children than the current requirements of Washington law,” the filing stated.
Bishop Daly vowed that clergy would face imprisonment rather than break the seal of confession. “I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishops, and priests are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” he said, while Archbishop Etienne invoked Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”
Orthodox churches have also entered the fray, filing a lawsuit on June 16. They argue that their priests, like Catholic clergy, have a “strict religious duty” to maintain confessional confidentiality, with violations constituting a “canonical crime and a grave sin.”
Founded in 1975 to foster ongoing formation for clergy per Vatican II’s directives, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy remains steadfast in its defense of the sacrament, positioning the issue as a critical test of religious freedom in the face of encroaching state mandates.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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