Priest calls for Church to ditch Confession to avoid reporting abuse

Outspoken cleric calls for group absolution even though Vatican has banned it

AN outspoken cleric believes the Catholic Church should ditch individual Confession to get around any attempt to breach the Confessional seal in cases of sexual abuse.

Father Tony Flannery, 71, who was censured by the Vatican, told the Irish Mail on Sunday he is in favour of a return to a lost form of Confession – general absolution or the third rite of penance.

This involves a congregation being absolved of their sins en masse instead of during one-on-one Confessions. It would also mean that a sinner – or perpetrator would not have to speak what they had done to anybody, even a priest.

Pope John Paul II banned general absolution in 1998, and since then, the Church allows it for groups of penitents only in extreme circumstances.

Currently a penitent cannot receive general absolution a second time without having made a Confession.

But Fr Flannery believes proposals in Australia on how to protect the seal of Confession, even in cases of sex abuse, are the way forward.

A religious commentator in Australia has proposed that for the foreseeable future the Church should decree that general absolution would be the only permitted way to celebrate the sacrament ‘and in this way sidestep the problem of the seal of Confession’.

‘The seal of Confession is sacrosanct, and you don’t touch it, because if that seal is breached the whole thing falls apart,’ Fr Flannery, of the Redemptorist Order, told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

‘If the abuse of a minor has to be reported, well then a lot of other crimes – such as if someone confessed they killed somebody – would that have to be reported too? Where do you draw the line?

‘Very few people go to Confession any more and most priests I talk to tell me it’s something they don’t hear anyway.

‘Officially, general absolution is not allowed, but it’s practised a bit – quietly,’ he added.

He said he has heard thousands of Confessions and ‘when it came to sex, people would speak in generalities, and say, “I broke the Sixth Commandment” [adultery].

‘It was my practice, and I’d say the practice of most priests, not to start asking questions, because you are into voyeurism then. Most of us would be relieved to leave it at that, give them absolution and let them go. So, I doubt very much that anybody ever came in to me and said, “I sexually abused a child.”

Some priests before me would have questioned people a lot and that was a terrible road to go down. You’d wonder if their own curiosity was feeding them questions,’ he said.

Fr Flannery said the debate about the seal of Confession has raged for some time, but the ‘situation within the Church over clerical sexual abuse is so serious, and the Church’s credibility so damaged, that I am not sure we can hold to this position any more’.

He said he believes general absolution ‘definitely’ covers mortal sins, but added that some theologians would take a different view, and argue that mortal sins have to be confessed individually.

Article 961 of Canon law says general absolution can be imparted only in the case of ‘gravis necessitas’ or grave necessity. However, Irish clerics say it is still applied by some priests ‘quietly’, regardless of the Vatican ruling.

Currently priests are ‘mandated’ persons, obliged to report abuse

It sidesteps the seal of Confession issue

Priests are obliged by civil law to report abuse

concerns under the Children First Act, and the Criminal Justice Act 2012 does not allow for Confessional privilege.

But the Church safeguarding board’s document advises clergy ‘all suspicions, concerns, knowledge or allegations’ should be reported to the statutory authorities – apart from those received in the sacrament of reconciliation (Confession), which is forbidden under Canon law.

A priest who violates the Confessional faces ex-communication.

Fr Brendan Hoban, of the Association of Catholic Priests said:, ‘I’ve yet to meet a priest who said he came across it in Confessions. Maybe the people who are abusing children don’t go to Confessions.’

Mr Martin Long of the Catholic Communications Office of the Irish Bishops’ Conference said: ‘No Catholic pastor, not even the Pope, can set aside the seal of Confession.’