Religion and Civil Law (Observer Column)

Just a note it is good to see the various articles in the papers examing the issues in what seems are more level headed manner, forgive me if I have not been posting much lately please peruse the articles and comments as always are welcomed. Thanks.

HOWARD GREGORY

A recent lead story in one of our daily newspapers reported on a confrontation between the Roman Catholic Church and the State over matters of law, and was subtitled "Catholic priests, State clash over reporting of confessed crimes". The article quotes Monsignor Kenneth Richards, rector of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. It is suggested that the rules of the Church, known as Canon Law, do not allow for the disclosure of information shared in the confessional, even if this relates to the abuse of a child. He is further quoted as stating that the seal of the confessional stands supreme and cannot be superseded by any civil law.

While this disclosure by Monsignor Richards is bound to create a lot of stir and ruffle many feathers, based on the sensational way in which the article was written, he has certainly rendered a service to the wider society by opening up the discussion on religion, which up to this point was on a very superficial level and without any form of analysis. Certainly, there are those who, under the influence of secularism and modernity, want to advance the position that religion needs to be marginalised as a relic of superstition, ignorance, and of an age that is past, notwithstanding the fact that credible research lends no credence to such assertions. That the BBC could, in recent weeks, have had a debate as to whether the Roman Catholic Church has been a force for good in the world, and got diverse responses, is indicative, at least in part, of the negative view which some have of religion.

There has also been a united response in countries which have been identified in the past as part of Christendom to the passage of laws that seek to limit the role of religion in the public sphere and in the life of the nation. They even prescribe how to deal with issues which have been traditionally defined as matters of doctrine and practice within the life of the Church. One example of this is the way in which the issue of human sexuality is being legislated by governments. There is a move afoot in the United Kingdom to make it illegal for the Church to preach that homosexuality is wrong, by making the issue one of human rights, with the consequence for violation being prosecution. In some countries, same-sex unions have now been defined as marriage. This is true in Holland and South Africa, to name a few. In Holland where the clergy are paid by the state, those who refuse to carry out such marriages face a real problem. In South Africa, I am told, the law specifically exempts the Church from any compulsion to perform such marriages.


The issue of marriage brings me to the substance of Monsignor's statement on the Roman Catholic Church. For the Roman Catholic Church, and some other Christian traditions including my own, marriage as well as the confessional (spoken of today as the Sacrament of Reconciliation) are sacraments of the Church. Sacraments belong to the Church and are neither the right/entitlement of anyone nor come under the sphere of jurisdiction of the State. While Monsignor Richards was not providing the media with a lesson in catechesis, it would be good to understand what a sacrament is. "The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace." In its simplest expression one can state that the confessional to which the Monsignor refers becomes the place and opportunity for one who has done wrong and is troubled to come in penitence and acknowledge openly, in a confidential relationship, the wrong that has been done and to seek to receive the grace of forgiveness and make reparation.


This is the point that is missed by many whose traditions do not include this sacrament as part of their discipline. The article misses this point altogether. The confessional is not an 'information bank' where persons come to deposit with the priest all the evils of his or her life. Rather it is the place where the penitents come to unburden themselves by acknowledging guilt and seek, through the grace imparted and affirmed, the strength to go and do the right and to make amends where necessary.

To paint a clearer, if not a bit offensive picture, the person coming to confess that he or she has, for example, committed a murder would not be advised by the priest to make sure that the body is properly hidden or buried, but would seek to explore the extent to which the person sees his or her actions as immoral, is disturbed of conscience, and would want to do what is necessary to relieve a troubled conscience and to be right with God. As the Monsignor indicated, this could mean that one seeks to have a long-term relationship with the penitent so that matters related to the consequences of his or her actions may be explored and be addressed. This could lead to a situation in which the priest becomes involved in the situation to the extent that he may be the one to accompany the penitent to the police by mutual consent.

While not directly related to the confessional, I found myself in a situation in recent times in which, while conducting a public service in church, a man came forward to the sanctuary and requested that the assisting parish priest accompany him to the police station because he had just stabbed a woman and she may have died. Put in the simplest form, one could say that the disturbance of conscience from his actions, and acknowledgement of the crime he committed, led him to seek out the religious figure with whom he could share that burden, even in a public setting.

What is probably most troubling for many, in the remarks of the ................ CONTINUE HERE