Lawmakers in Washington state have passed a bill that would require clergy to report sexual abuse even if it was admitted to in the Catholic confessional.
Last Friday, the Washington House voted 64-31 to pass Senate Bill 5375, sending the proposed legislation to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson for his signature.
“It’s long past time for this protection for children,” said Democrat Sen. Noel Frame of Seattle, the sponsor of SB 5375, as quoted by The Washington State Standard.
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“Members of the clergy play such an important role in the lives of children, like teachers and doctors do, and just like those other trusted adults, clergy should be mandatory reporters.”
However, others, among them Republican state Rep. Jeremie Dufault of Selah, argued that the bill violated religious liberty, calling it “an attack on the Catholic and other faiths.”
Introduced in January, SB 5375 adds religious clergy among the group of professionals that are required by law to report any suspicion of sexual abuse of children to authorities.
The bill garnered controversy for not exempting situations like the Catholic confessional from the mandatory reporting of abuse, even though the Catholic Church requires priests to maintain secrecy for things admitted during confession.
“Except for members of the clergy, no one shall be required to report under this section when he or she obtains the information solely as a result of a privileged communication,” stated the bill.
SB 5375 had the backing of the interfaith advocacy organization The Clergy Accountability Coalition, which argues that it is necessary to combat child abuse.
“If a state cannot regulate religions,” said Sharon Huling of CAC in a statement released in January, “then they should not be able to provide religions with exemptions either.”
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The Code of Canon Law forbids priests from divulging information received in confession,” and the punishment “for a priest who directly violates the seal of confession is excommunication.”
Washington state lawmakers considered a similar bill last year, Senate Bill 6298, which had overwhelmingly passed the state Senate in a vote of 44-5.
However, in February of last year, SB 6298 died in the Washington House Committee on Human Services, Youth & Early Learning, mainly due to its failure to exempt the Catholic confessional.
The Washington State Catholic Conference, which was critical of SB 6298, released a bulletin last year predicting that “a new version of SB 6298 will be introduced, most likely without a clergy-penitent privilege.”
The WSCC claimed that admonitions of child abuse in the confessional are “rare” and that the Catholic Church already “supports mandatory reporting outside of the confessional.”
“Many legislators are unaware of the grave impacts of holding priests criminally liable for maintaining their vow to protect the Seal of Confession,” warned the conference in 2024.
