The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing the State of Washington over passage of a bill that forces priests to violate the Confessional Seal if they have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused. The suit asserts that this law is a violation of the First Amendment right of priests to maintain confidentiality in the Confessional.According to the Northwest Catholic, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Seattle, Washington’s new law, SB5375, which is set to take effect on July 27, threatens priests with up to 364 days in jail, a $5,000 fine and potential civil liability if they refuse to break the seal of confession.
“While the state says the law is meant to protect children, it continues to allow confidentiality for attorneys, spouses and others when they receive the same information,” the article states.
As a result, the state’s Catholic bishops filed a lawsuit against the state on May 26.
“It’s hard to imagine a more brazen attack on faith than state bureaucrats policing the sacrament of confession,” said Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of religious traditions who is representing the bishops along with First Liberty Institute. “Washington’s law isn’t about protecting kids — it’s about jailing priests for following the Church’s ancient faith practices. We’re asking the court to step in and stop the state from turning a sanctuary for the soul into a tool of surveillance.”
The DOJ agrees and filed suit on June 23 stating that the violations imposed by the new law on all practicing members of the Catholic Church, including Catholic priests administering the sacrament and Catholic penitents participating in the rite, include deprivations of the Free Exercise of Religion under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“Laws that explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Senate Bill 5375 unconstitutionally forces Catholic priests in Washington to choose between their obligations to the Catholic Church and their penitents or face criminal consequences, while treating the priest-penitent privilege differently than other well-settled privileges. The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
Confession offers the faithful a confidential space to seek God’s mercy and guidance, says Jean Hill, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference.
“This trust is sacred, and any law that jeopardizes it risks discouraging those who recognize the harm they have caused from seeking moral guidance.”
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