Catholic League President William A. Donohue has written to Washington state Senator Noel Frame, urging the state to “follow Canon law” on assisted dying.
The letter followed Frame’s suggestion that the church could “change their rules” to allow priests to disclose any allegations of child abuse heard during confession to the relevant authorities.
Newsweek contacted the Catholic League and the state senator for comment on Thursday via email outside regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Earlier this month, the state of Washington passed a law requiring clergy to report any suspected child abuse they learn of during confession, a requirement they were previously exempt from for religious reasons.
In response, the Archdiocese of Seattle said, “Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession—or they will be excommunicated from the Church.”
What To Know
On Tuesday, the Catholic League published the letter Donohue sent to Frame under the title “Washington State Should Adopt Canon Law.”
In his letter, Donohue cited an interview Frame did with NPR’s Dave Miller earlier this month, in which she suggested church law could be amended to match state law.
“I am reminded that Canon law has changed many times over the years in the Catholic faith and there’s nothing to say they cannot change their rules to allow the reporting of real time abuse and neglect of children. That is within their power to change and I think they should so,” Frame said.
Donohue wrote in response: “Funny thing is I feel the same way about your state legalizing assisted suicide. Except I would recommend that state law follow Canon law. We the Catholic Church have a theological purpose that is to protect the vulnerable from assisted suicide and that is why state legislators should choose to follow Canon law to protect such persons, as we do not want to be complicit in killing them.”
The Catholic League president added: “I am reminded that state law has changed many times over the years in secular society and there’s nothing to say they cannot change their rules to follow Canon law and put an end to assisted suicide. That is within their power to change and I think they should do so.”
The Washington Death With Dignity Act became law in 2008, allowing “some terminally ill patients” in the state to ask for “lethal doses of medication” from health care providers.
In April 2023, then-Governor Jay Inslee approved a law that sought to reduce the wait time between when a patient asked for life-ending treatment and when they received it.
Frame also told NPR, “We the state of Washington have a secular legislative purpose that is to protect children from abuse and neglect and if faith communities choose through their rules not to protect children from abuse and neglect, we the state are choosing not to be complicit in that choice by their rules.”
Donohue responded in his letter: “You do not cite one instance where any child has ever suffered abuse or neglect, in any state, because a priest chooses not to disclose what he has learned in the confessional. That’s largely because molesters tend not to be the kind of persons who like to ‘fess up.’ In other words, your bill is only tangentially related to this issue.”
What People Are Saying
Anthea Butler, the chair of the department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, previously told Newsweek: “This is about ‘the seal of the confessional.’ That is, the rule that when a priest hears a confession, it cannot be shared. If it is shared, it’s breaking Canon Law. A priest can be excommunicated for breaking the seal of the confessional.
“The situation, which the Trump administration is looking at, is interesting because there has always been this collision between the law of the local, state and national level and some aspects of canon law. Think about this not only on this level, but in issues of other types of transgressions, like murder. Terrible situation, but for the priest, they are subject to canon law.”
The Washington State Catholic Conference, which represents five Catholic bishops, previously told Newsweek: “The Catholic Church in Washington supported adding clergy as mandatory reporters. We have required clergy to report since at least 2002. The church has made several policy changes over the decades to ensure abuse survivors are supported, prevention is emphasized and suspected abuse is reported. We asked for a limited exception for the time a priest is engaged in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, an exception the majority of states with clergy reporting laws have granted.
“The state telling the church to change its centuries of practice in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is exactly the type of government intrusion in religion that the First Amendment protects against. It also ignores the current practices and policies of the church that are successfully helping to prevent abuse and ensure reasonable suspicions of abuse are reported to proper authorities. There are many ways to accomplish the states’ goal, which we share, of protecting children, that do not require the state to trample on our rights.”
What Happens Next
The Washington law, which is set to go into effect on July 27, has highlighted the national conversation about the boundaries between church and state. The Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into whether the legislation violates the First Amendment right to religious freedom.
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