The Catholic Church is not exempt from the laws of Australia
How much will it take for the Catholic Church to accept, openly, that it is, and always will be, subject to the laws of Australia?
ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsey was right to excoriate Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse, after the latter, currently head of the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese, confirmed his priests would not break the seal of confession to report child abuse.
Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse. Photo: Jamila Toderas
Archbishop Prowse told parishioners the priest hearing the confession would instead encourage the person to report the abuse outside the seal, although he deemed it was unlikely abuse would be disclosed in this way.
Ministers of religion are also now counted as mandatory reporters, after the passage of a suite of child protection laws last week.
The confessional has always had an important role, and still does. It has been a safe place for the lonely, the grieving, the dispossessed and the persecuted throughout history, even as many falling into these categories now have various outside modes of succour and relief as we have moved to a more open society.
Gay people may once have found the confessional the only place to express themselves safely. Political or ideological renegades might have used it as a place of reflection, and those with mental health issues may have viewed the confessional as the only space in which they could speak of what they were going through.
Most such people now have various other avenues of relief, although many more may still view the confessional as the ultimate safe space.
But to maintain that the confessional - essentially a medieval institution - is somehow beyond the laws of a modern and enlightened society is unacceptable.
"It is irresponsible for the leader of any institution to suggest that their internal rules should take precedence over an ACT law which has been passed specifically to ensure the safety of our children," Mr Ramsay said.
"There is no fair basis for any institution to claim that its internal ways of working should provide an exception to this law.”
He said he didn’t believe the ACT community would accept any attempt by any individual or institution - even or especially one as ingrained as the Catholic Church - to exempt itself from these laws.
It is now clearer than it ever was that the seal of the confessional has played an integral role in “aiding and abetting” the abuse of countless children over many years, both in Australia and around the world. Mr Ramsey also made the point that the new mandatory reporting and failure to report laws - the ones Archbishop Prowse seems to think won’t apply to the confessional - would set a “gold standard” for protecting children.
The Church must be part of a collective response to this issue, rather than continually trying to exempt itself from the process. And if any institution has demonstrated that it should most definitely not be exempt, it is surely the Catholic Church.
It must acknowledge its role in so much misery by renouncing all aspects of its practice that has contributed in any way. It could start at the centre by pulling back the curtain and doing its moral duty.