Morning Briefing [1]has a couple of links to articles about Australia, where politicians and even some priests are questioning the inviolability of the confessional seal.

I am not a fan of authoritarian tendencies within the Church. I always tend to think we should follow the example of the Master who was prepared to let the rich young man walk away sad. But, if I were a bishop in Australia, I would let my clergy know that if they ever broke the seal of confession, I would commence laicization proceedings within the hour.  Priests have been tortured and martyred in previous times to protect the Sacrament of Confession. It is worth protecting. Here is a moment when Catholics need to be stiff-necked in the extreme. And, if you are a Catholic, and you do not see the necessity of being stiff-necked about this, you become my Exhibit A in defense of the proposition that the acids of secularism have seeped into the Church.