Keep sex abuse sins confidential, confessors urged

What does the confessor say to the bishop who confesses covering up sexual abuse of a minor? Oh wait, he'd have to be sorry he did it in order to confess.

An abuse of the Sacrament of Penance. More double speak from Rome. This imperial model of the Catholic Church must end. Rebirth and fundamental and radical change is needed in order to address this issue as well as so many other issues facing the institutional Church. These hypocrites speak of the "gravity of the sin of abortion" but fail to see the "gravity" of the sins of child sexual abuse by priests and bishops. This current model of Church can't be saved. It is time to overturn the misguided policies of the last five hundred years and build a Church that models itself after Jesus and NOT the Roman Empire. I used to wonder why the right wingers even bothered to come to NCR to post their often violent and backward thinking. I now believe it is because they KNOW that this imperial model of the Latin Rite Church is NOT working and does not truly reflect Jesus, so they fight to preserve it at all costs, even at the cost of being untrue to Jesus. Secrets and lies do not work. The hierarchy from the Pope to the most, but not all of the local bishops are out of touch with Jesus and the People of God. It's time to realize that this old system must fall. It is imploding from its' own corruption.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti's comments confuse me. When the sin confessed is theft, the penitent must attempt to make restitution for absolution to be effected. Granted that a child's innocence is intangible and once violated or "stolen", it cannot be restored or restituted. But where is the repentance, remorse or penance for the sin which is mortal for the abuser and can be fatal for the victim?
"...a confessor may want to recommend that a priest discuss the situation with superiors in order to avoid the occasion of future sins, they said. Publicly admitting the sin might even be required of a penitent if it would clear the name of another person unjustly accused of the same act"
The bishops are finally realizing and admitting that most if not all sexual abusers cannot be "cured". The only reliable solution is monitoring, counseling and avoidance of the "near occasion of sin". But to publicly admit the sin only to "clear the name of another person unjustly accused of the same act" is a situation that occurs infrequently if at all. This statement dismisses and disregards any attention or care for the victim, now seen as "damaged goods" by the Church and apparently its pastors as well.
These pastors are the ones who rule that there is murder and there is abortion. If one murders the living image of God, any ordained priest can offer absolution. If one aborts a developing image of God, only a consecrated bishop can absolve the sinner. Sexual abuse is the "abortion" of the victim's innocence. The bishops should acknowledge this and fulfill their call to pastor all of God's children, especially "the least". While they should not tie millstones around the necks of abusers and cast them into sea, they should not simply have a confidential discussion with the abuser and then offer reassignment and a new occasion of sin.
But most of all, they should ask forgiveness from the victims and expend all their energies and resources to attempt to reconcile the victims not with God, but with our sinful church.
Paz y Bien, Rolando.

What does Bishop Girotti have to say to priests who commit murder and confess it. Shouldn't anyone who confesses a sin that is usually punished by a civil authority be counseled to turn himself in?

This is an absurd response. If you steal, any confessor worth his (and I mean his)salt is going to obligate you the sinner to make restitution. Now, this guy is suggesting that if you steal someone's youth and innocence, there is no restitution to be made. That is not only an absurd and sinful position to take, it is shameful for its ignorance and obstinance.

Here's an easy solution to that problem: Like murder et al, deny the sinner absolution until he confesses his crime to the clerical and legal authorities. That puts the ball squarely in his court. Amen.

Once again the wrong issue.

This is not about an abuser that goes to confession or goes to the bishop himself.

This is about Children and Parents that come to the church for help and are reabused by threats, intimidation and sworn to silence, perhaps even false promises of justice.

The children BEG for justice and the abuse to stop.
The parents BEG for justice and the abuse to stop.

But the church requirement to stay scandal free is more important than the next child to be abused.

That's why I have voted with my feet and take my worship and my money elsewhere.

RJ

So, let me get this straight. Women, of whatever age or health condition, who have had an abortion, even after rape or incest, have to seek out a bishop for the sacrament of reconciliation and absolution. But, priests who are molesting already born children, possibly repeatedly, destroying their lives and psyches as surely abortion kills bodies, are not seen to be sinning as "seriously".

One wonders where the rape and/or incest falls on this continuum of sin. They probably get off with a couple of Hail Marys.

I guess it's just not possible, in the theology of the hierarchy, for a straight male, especially an ordained male, to sin as seriously as women and/or "homosexuals", even when committing "intrinsically evil" acts.

Sheesh!

The penitents penance should be that he must turn himself into the police. This infuriates me to have some "lame" bishop come out with such a distinction between what he requires of the penitent and what he advises him to do. Who cares! What I care about is that this immoral hierarchy get their act together and acknowledge the sin the church has committed in protecting their own and punishing children who have been molested. They acknowledge they have been morally wrong and they change. Clericalism is the biggest sin of the Catholic Church and their power grabbing and secrecy must come to an end. We all will face the judgment and mercy of God but if I was one of the bishops, cardinals and even the pope and have to answer for how I contributed to this malaise in the Church, I would start doing my penance right now.

BREAK THE CYCLE!
"When a priest confesses such acts, "the confession can only have absolution as a consequence," he said."

Doesn't this buffoon realize that this is precisely what has caused all the trouble for the church and he wishes to perpetuate the madness? ABSOLUTION is NOT AUTOMATIC...and MUST be witheld until adequate PENANCE has been performed - including turning oneself in to the proper legal authorities, since the church has demonstrated time and time again that it will not PROTECT CHILDREN by doing so.

And church people wonder WHY the sacrament of reconciliation is -like so many other things- in a shambles.

Let's get this straight--priests cannot require child abusers to turn themselves into to civil authorities as a penance. Nor can they warn anyone else a fellow priest is a sexual predator--even if they are they only other adult who knows. Good grief!

Apparently, the Vatican still places a higher value on the soul of a criminal than the sanctity of a child. How can anyone in their right mind think this makes sense?

If a confessor has reason to believe that the penitent has no intention of doing what is required of him or her to "go forth and sin no more" with regard to the confessed sins is he not entitled, indeed obligated to withhold absolution?

What is required of a pedophile or obsessed ephebophile is to remove him or her self from the "occasion of sin" and to get the help required and to take whatever other actions are required to ensure that he or she does not continue with that sort of transgression.

Anything less indicates something less than genuine contrition and a lack of will to resolve not to sin in the same manner again. Again, something for which absolution may not be given.

Once again, we see a cleric (this time Bishop Gianfranco Girotti) seeking to give his fellows a "get out of jail free" card as regards the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

Once again, we see a Vatican official mincing words and hoping to pull the wool over the collective eyes of the masses of Catholics who may not be trained in all of the nuances of Catholic doctrine.

I agree with this bishop, and, yet, aren't some things better left unsaid?

This "reminder", within the context mentioned, gives me heartburn.

O
where
is
my
antacid?

Kung is right. He has always been right and the proof lies in the current situation. It's really disappointing. For those of us who have invested so much in our "Faith Journey" ending up Catholic only to find out that we have maybe made the biggest mistake possible is devastating. Oh I'll remain Catholic, but I'll have to think more carefully about the "old Catholic Church". I'm done with Rome and all of its antiquarian nonsense. Not long ago a statement like that would have sounded disrespectful if not blasphemous. Today, it only seems sensible. Why should we pay attention to the leadership of any organization that has so embarrassed itself. What reason would compel me to entrust my liturgical connection to the creator to a bunch of backward eunuchs that have become a threat to the children of the world. After reading of all the incredible things this paternalist top down refuge for the depraved is capable of, I can only consider it the most visible of the possessed entities in the world today.
Bring about change in the RC church like hell!!! Exorcise it!!!!

Sex abuse of minors is a CRIME ! NOT to be kept secret! Abuse of children is a CRIME and the priest abusers are CRIMINALS! NO MORE SECRECY! NO MORE HIDING CRIMES!

The Vatican is so wicked stating to keep the abuse secret and the offender unprosecuted so he can RE-OFFEND with MORE VICTIMS!

The Vatican is MORALLY CORRUPT and ANTI-JESUS who said to help and protect the children NOT ABUSE them! FIRE this HORRIBLE CRIMINAL POPE!

GET the U.N. or Interpol involved and arrest and try this evil man for procurement of minors for sexual abuse by his clergy! STOP him!

UNBELIEVABLE the Vatican continues to obstruct justice and keep the pedophile crimes going on in the Catholic church! It is CRIME of the most dreadful and yet the pope wants to keep COVERING IT UP! He keeps allowing it to happen!

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti is he speaking the words of Pope BXVI? I am sure he is following the pope's orders. This is so wrong to keep hiding the crimes of abuse of children and seminarians and youths and others by hierarchy.

Can this policy be changed.. of hiding and cover-up of sex crimes? Unacceptable! The pope must be forced to REPORT these crimes, prosecute civilly these kid abusers and stop this outraeous abuse of power!

Such rank corruption stems right from the pope!

PROTECT the children and abused adults! Report the crimes to civil authorities! THEY are CRIMES!

Lives are ruined and all the pope cares about is to lessen scandals, have hush-up and hide the crimes. Children are sextoys and abuse fodder for priests/bishops/archbishops/cardinals/popes. NOTHING has changed. The abuses, arrogance and contempt for the least of us, the vulnerable, the innocent, the young, continues unchecked in the RCC.

So Bishop Vatican Girotti is saying keep the sex abuses hidden and do not get the perpetrators charged and brought to justice. He says " Let them get away with predation on the Catholic children, youths and adults and let them re-offend. Keep it all quiet and out of the public eye."

Girotti is saying do not care one bit for the victims and keep it secret.

This is an EVIL way to handle EVIL. How can we call those hierarchs of the Vatican 'churchmen'? Pimps for pedophiles!

Christopher Hutchinson, author, professor calls the Catholic church, the Church of the Pedophile Male Clergy, or some similar name and he is so correct!

Oh how can the pope command Girotti to speak and behave in such an evil and irresponsible way? How can the pope be so evil? It is clear that reform must happen and the pope must be removed from the papacy. The Vatican must be over-hauled from the criminal abettors and enablers hierarchs who populate the Congregation offices now.

So Bishop Vatican Girotti is saying keep the sex abuses hidden and do not get the perpetrators charged and brought to justice. He says " Let them get away with predation on the Catholic children, youths and adults and let them re-offend. Keep it all quiet and out of the public eye."

Girotti is saying do not care one bit for the victims and keep it secret.

This is an EVIL way to handle EVIL. How can we call those hierarchs of the Vatican 'churchmen'? Pimps for pedophiles!

Christopher Hutchinson, author, professor calls the Catholic church, the Church of the Pedophile Male Clergy, or some similar name and he is so correct!

Oh how can the pope command Girotti to speak and behave in such an evil and irresponsible way? How can the pope be so evil? It is clear that reform must happen and the pope must be removed from the papacy. The Vatican must be over-hauled from the criminal abettors and enablers hierarchs who populate the Congregation offices now.

Something wicked this way has come: Pope Benedict XVI.

Wow! What else can be said...besides immediately granting an indefinite leave of absence to this and other members of the hierarchy (and other all other priets) holding similar views !

take care

This article was very difficult to read ... with all of the "double-speak" by Bishop Girotti. It reflects the confused thinking held by many leaders within the Catholic Church and reinforces the status quo of denial within the institutional Catholic Church.

From the time I was a child who learned about confession, mortal sin and venial sin, etc., I took very seriously what I was taught. It is difficult to see how much such distorted information negatively impacted my relationships and sexual development throughout my young adult life into my 50's when I finally, through therapy and spiritual direction, chose to take a position of no longer following such distorted "measuring of sinful behaviors." Instead, I accepted myself with all her feelings, imaginings, and actions knowing that God loves me.

May the Spirit deeply reform the institutional church!

Hogwash. I saw the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary run from a major TV network reporter shouting "Non è serio"" (Your not serious) then slamming a huge bronze door on his foot! These are the kind of sorcerers the Pope appoints to guide the children of God?

NO secrecy and NO hiding crimes. Girotti and the Pope are WRONG! The abusers must face civil justice and the CRIMES must be reported to the POLICE>

Protect the VICTIMS not the criminals!

END this horror and disobedience to God and Jesus and the people of church.

The Millstones round Pope's and Girotti's necks are SINKING the RC Church!

Does not the country have laws where whoever knows of child abuse or any crimes these crimes are to be reported to the police? There must be huge fines and even jail time for those who do not report crimes and who obstruct justice.

The Pope and Girotti are OBSTRUCTING justice.

New York Times Nicholas Kulish has excellent article about this German pope Benedict XVI scandal in March 18 2010 recent edition.

There is imperative need to revoke the pope as pope. Justina.

The comments by Bishop Girotti are disgusting. If a serial murderer went to confession while in the midst of his crime spree, any confessor who had any sort of conscience and feeling of responsibility to his overall community would certainly require as a condition of absolution that the serial murderer turn himself in before any more people were killed. Let's compare this to the current Church sexual abuse problem. There is a huge difference between a serial murderer and a serial sexual abuser, with the latter being far worse. Killing a person is a single moment of abuse for that person, while sexually abusing a person leads to a lifetime of internal torture for that person. Since absolution for the sin of abortion is reserved to a bishop according to Bishop Girotti, then absolution for the infinitely greater sin of sexual abuse or coverup should be reserved for the pope--however, I don't know if there would be enough days in a year for the pope to hear the confessions of all involved.

"By placing abortion in the category of sins reserved to a higher competence, the aim was to place the accent on the seriousness of the killing of an individual even before he or she is born. The hope is also to encourage more reflection by those thinking of abortion as a way to resolve a serious personal issue," he said."

All this says is that abortion is the only issue the Church is focused on, which is really sad. Keep all other sins private except abortion. This is clearly misogyny.

Ok to absolve and keep secret a pedophile priest, but not someone who had an abortion? Ok to absolve a murderer, and keep silent but not someone who had an abortion? Now the Church has really lost any sense of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Those who think up this stuff need to reflect more on how to serve God's children with compassion and love for women and children of all ages, instead of feeding their appetite to belittle women even more than they already are.

The only "higher competence" is Jesus Christ. One does not need a Catholic priest to absolve sins. One only need Jesus. When will the Church finally get it?

Priests who don't believe that Jesus saves, don't really believe in Jesus.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti's comments confuse me. When the sin confessed is theft, the penitent must attempt to make restitution for absolution to be effected. Granted that a child's innocence is intangible and once violated or "stolen", it cannot be restored or restituted. But where is the repentance, remorse or penance for the sin which is mortal for the abuser and can be fatal for the victim?
"...a confessor may want to recommend that a priest discuss the situation with superiors in order to avoid the occasion of future sins, they said. Publicly admitting the sin might even be required of a penitent if it would clear the name of another person unjustly accused of the same act"
The bishops are finally realizing and admitting that most if not all sexual abusers cannot be "cured". The only reliable solution is monitoring, counseling and avoidance of the "near occasion of sin". But to publicly admit the sin only to "clear the name of another person unjustly accused of the same act" is a situation that occurs infrequently if at all. This statement dismisses and disregards any attention or care for the victim, now seen as "damaged goods" by the Church and apparently its pastors as well.
These pastors are the ones who rule that there is murder and there is abortion. If one murders the living image of God, any ordained priest can offer absolution. If one aborts a developing image of God, only a consecrated bishop can absolve the sinner. Sexual abuse is the "abortion" of the victim's innocence. The bishops should acknowledge this and fulfill their call to pastor all of God's children, especially "the least". While they should not tie millstones around the necks of abusers and cast them into sea, they should not simply have a confidential discussion with the abuser and then offer reassignment and a new occasion of sin.
But most of all, they should ask forgiveness from the victims and expend all their energies and resources to attempt to reconcile the victims not with God, but with our sinful church.
Paz y Bien, Rolando.

So on these grounds an abuser could go on and on and on, week after week, abusing and abusing, confessing and confessing and he would get counseling to not do this again and that's it. And the next week the same litany of confessing and absolving. So confession becomes a license to abuse. This is not astounding since it has been the same perverted notions of confession that has enabled abuse for as long as it has been going on--which is a long time.
Bishop Girotti is proclaiming a moral theology of confession which debases one of our most sacred sacraments. Is this is where our church is? Is Rome being run by the Bishop Girotti's of the world---moral bureaucrats?

There are sins against God and sins that are also crimes. Sexual abuse is not just a sin, it is a crime. The sinner may receive absolution but the sexual abuser is still accountable for the crime by law. I will never understand how bishops can justify, having allowed priests, that have sexually abused children, to leave the ministry without reporting them to law enforcement and not being concerned that since they were not made to register as sex offeners, allowed them to become part of the main stream public. Were they all just stupid. Did they give one moment of thought to the fact that pedophilers keep on searching for more children to abuse. How can they sleep at night. What kind of a man is a bishop? How can a bishop hold up their head when speaking to parents.? How can bishops look parents right in their eyes after knowingly placed their concern for the sexual abusers before the safe welfare of Gods children? What in the name of heaven will it take to get bishops to accept their failings and do the right thing and resign. There is no way whatsoever that just saying,I'm sorry, We made mistakes, We were given bad information, We didn't know, We thought treatment was the answer, or any of a hundred other excuses they spout, will ever get me to trust any bishop. And you can quote me on that.

We as Catholics have been duped by the confessional for too long.
To face the wrong committed and make reparation to the one wronged is the only deterence to be sure of.
In a court of law, to say we have been to "confession" means nothing; there is always a price to pay and the sooner what we encourage of our children in relation to honesty and accountability is carried through into the priesthood the better.
They are only men with "human frailties" when expedient but the power of the priesthood always has precedence over us.
It's a sham like all the rhetoric being forced down our throats at the moment playing on emotion.
To be touching on abortion and childrens rights: What a cheek: Children who have been given life have been thrown to the wolves including those who are the flesh and blood of their own.
Be men, face up to to what has been covered up to protect the Church from scandal for so long, trust in the mercy of God you so often remind us of and His will, not your Bishops or Superiors manipulation.
Save yourselves and let the devil take care of his own.
We were recently informed by a reliable Vatican source he is running rampant
in the City of God and has been for years.
The writing is on the wall and we as Catholics should be reading it and getting our head out of the sand so we will gain the credibility we deserve and are entitled to.

No wonder the ordinary laity have abandoned such "pseudo-sacramental" morally spineless confessors en masse. People who had an honest desire to improve their lives and avoid harmful sins and habits have received no help in Confession, so they switched to other mental health specialists instead...

And this sort of advice is a typical Vatican response on improving the administration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in 2010, so that the People of God will start using it again???

Pigs will fly first!!

What concerns me most about many of the comments above is that rather than debating issues of whether a confessor violates the seal by conditioning absolution on self-disclosure by the penitent, many posters clearly reject the very idea of a seal of the confessional, at least for offenses which they feel entitled to list.

I am not by any means a "neocon". I don't go around trying to force the Church back to a pre-Vatican II mentality. I am a laywoman educated at a fairly liberal seminary now working full-time in parish work, and, by the way, a victim of inappropriate touching by a priest whom I knew in my teens. And I am SHOCKED that so many people who consider themselves Catholic see so little value in the seal of the confessional.

When I recently began to grapple with ongoing spiritual and moral issues surrounding the abusive relationship I experienced as a young person, I chose to disclose the abuse to a priest in the context of confession, precisely because I knew that my confessor would not, could not, repeat what I had said to anyone, for any reason, even a reason as seemingly compelling as reporting an abuser. Before I could even think of reporting the abuser myself, I needed a safe haven to work through my own confusion about boundaries between right and wrong, and to reconcile with God and the Church after something very hurtful. My confidence in the seal was founded on the very fact that there are no exceptions. None.

When people want to get into conversations about "But what if someone confesses that . . .", then there's no point in discussing the matter any further. They have shown that they find no value in such a safe haven, even for the sake of salvation of souls, even for pastoral care to the anguished. (Remember, if you believe in violating the seal because a penitent confesses to COMMITTING sexual abuse on the grounds that abusers must be reported, then you must also, to be consistent, believe that disclosures in the confessional from victims of having BEEN abused must also be reported to authorities. That's how it works in the context of non-sacramental conversations.)

My confessor is pretty progressive on a lot of issues, but I'm glad he's not as "progressive" on the seal as people here.

I think that the comments submitted by Stating What Should Be Obvious miss the point. It is not that the confessor should break the seal of confession, it is that the confessor should not provide safe haven to pedophile criminals. Remember that while the confessor is bound by the seal, the penitent is not, nor is absolution guaranteed just by virtue of showing up. What the confessor can and should do is demand more of the penitent. It is not too much to ask that one seeking forgiveness of such a serious sin be asked to demonstrate a true desire not to sin again by being required to make restitution and do everything possible (informing superiors at the very least) to avoid near occasions of sin in the future. As stated in so many earlier posts, would a confessor grant absolution to a serial killer without requiring surrender to the authorities?