Seal of confession is unbreakable

Priests simply cannot reveal what was said to them by penitents, writes Fr Seán McDonagh

EARLIER this week Justice Minister Alan Shatter briefed the media on draft legislation he plans to introduce in the autumn and would oblige priests who have received information about the abuse of children in confession to make that information known to gardaí.

I and all our members in the Association of Catholic Priests consider the abuse of children by anyone to be abhorrent. We are particularly vehement in our condemnation when the abuser is either a priest or religious. Abuse in those circumstances breaks a sacred bond which should exist between a minister of the Gospel of Jesus and a young, vulnerable person. We are also very aware in the light of the Ferns, Murphy and Cloyne reports that bishops and religious leaders did not, in the past, take decisive actions to protect young people against priests who abused.