Bishops, state agree to protect confession in Washington mandatory reporter law

(OSV News) -- Washington state's government and its Catholic bishops reached an agreement Oct. 10 in a federal lawsuit over the state's mandatory reporter law they said could force priests to violate the seal of confession.

In an order filed with the U.S. district court in Tacoma, the state was blocked from enforcing the law "as to the Sacrament of Confession" against priests "who fall directly under the administration" of the bishops leading Washington's Catholic dioceses, who were plaintiffs in the suit.

The state's Catholic bishops previously filed their lawsuit in response to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson's approval of Senate Bill 5375, which designated members of the clergy as mandatory reporters, or people required by law to report suspected or known instances of child abuse or neglect.

The version of that legislation the state enacted did not include an exception for sacramental confessions, an exception that most other states with similar requirements for clergy have, which prompted concern from the state's Catholic bishops and religious liberty advocates that the law could place Catholic priests at odds with civil law in order to uphold church law regarding the seal of the confessional.

"Washington was wise to walk away from this draconian law and allow Catholic clergy to continue ministering to the faithful," Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, a religious liberty law firm, said in a statement. "This is a victory for religious freedom and for common sense. Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail."

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement that the state agreed -- and the court ordered -- that clergy in Washington state remain mandatory reporters. But Brown said the reporting requirement will not be enforced when it comes to information obtained solely from Catholic confession -- part of the church's sacrament of reconciliation -- or similar practices in other faiths. That stipulation is still pending final court approval, his office said.

"Today's agreement respects the court's decision in this case and maintains important protections for children," Brown said. "It keeps crucial portions of Washington's mandatory reporting law in place, while also preserving the Legislature's authority to address issues with the law identified by the court."

The law made members of the clergy mandatory reporters, or people required by law to report suspected or known instances of child abuse or neglect, but without an exception to the requirement for sacramental confessions.

Other mandatory reporters in Washington state include school personnel, nurses, social service counselors and psychologists. Proponents of the law argued that clergy are an important addition to the state's list of mandatory reporters in order to help ensure abuse is reported to officials.

The Washington State Catholic Conference, which is the public policy arm of the state's Catholic bishops, previously supported a different version of the legislation to make clergy mandatory reporters that did include an exception for hearing confession. However, they opposed the particular version of the legislation that was signed into law which lacked that exception.

Jean Hill, executive director of the WSCC, praised the new agreement in a statement.

"Preventing abuse and upholding the sacred seal of confession are not mutually exclusive—we can and must do both," Hill said. "That's why the Church supported the law's goal from the beginning and only asked for a narrow exemption to protect the sacrament. We're grateful the state ultimately recognized it can prevent abuse without forcing priests to violate their sacred vows."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that priests are forbidden from sharing what penitents tell them during sacramental confession and that information a penitent divulges in that context is under "seal."

"Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him," the catechism states.

The Justice Department said in May it had opened a civil rights investigation into the development and passage of the law, which was also a topic at the inaugural meeting of the Department of Justice's Religious Liberty Commission on June 16.

Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, which also represented Washington's bishops in the lawsuit, said in a statement that it is a credit to the state's attorney general, governor and the bishops that "they were able to come together and find common ground under the First Amendment to protect religious liberty while seeking to eradicate the scourge of sexual abuse."

He said, "I hope we can all learn from their noble examples."

Every U.S. state, district or territory has some form of mandatory reporting law. Most states that specifically include clergy in their mandatory reporting laws provide some clergy-penitent privileges to varying degrees, according to data from the Child Welfare Information Gateway, which operates under the Children's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The state also reached an agreement in a similar lawsuit from a group of Orthodox churches and one of their priests, their attorneys said.