Petition Against HB90 Appears to Be Successful

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It is my distinct pleasure to thank Utah Catholics for your amazing advocacy this legislative session. After Bishop Oscar A. Solis’ call for letters in opposition to HB 90, the bill eliminating the clergy privilege for communications within the sacred space of Confession, more than 9,000 of you responded. Letters poured in from every corner of the state seeking to protect our free exercise of religion.

Throughout the process of opposing the bill, we also learned two critical lessons – the negative impacts such laws have on victims are underemphasized, and Catholics need far more formation about the Sacrament of Confession and the First Amendment.

As we began preparing our response to the bill in Utah, it became increasingly clear that focusing on our Church’s teaching that no person is irredeemable and the spiritual benefits of Confession to a perpetrator was, understandably, not winning the hearts and minds of people scarred by the abuse scandal.  More importantly, we could find no one talking about the very real harm such bills could cause to young victims.

It is a well-studied fact that most child victims think they are to blame for abusive acts against them. It isn’t hard to imagine, then, a young girl who thinks she has done something wrong seeking to confess her “sins” to her parish priest in the hope of ending the ongoing horror of abuse. Once in the confessional, she will learn that she has done nothing for which she needs to be forgiven, that what is happening to her is not her fault. The priest might even help the victim find the strength she needs to report the abuse to the proper authorities.

Now imagine that same young girl, still thinking she has done something horribly wrong, considering Confession but deciding not to partake in the sacrament for fear her priest will call law enforcement about what she still believes are her “wrongful” acts. Not only are we denying the victim access to the sacrament, we are preventing her from receiving the spiritual and emotional care she needs, in a noble but misguided attempt to uncover perpetrators.

This is a side of the proposed changes in state exemptions that needs to be told more often.  

Similarly, Catholics need to be more aware of the role of the priest in Confession, and the importance of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  

A poll by a Utah newspaper showed that a majority of Catholics were in support of the bill removing the clergy exemption. Talking to Catholics, few understood that breaking the Seal of Confession, as the bill requires, means automatic excommunication for a priest. Some were unmoved by this knowledge, but placing a priest in the position of losing his vocation or facing criminal charges seems to be a blatant violation of our First Amendment protections.

Critics of our position also ask why priests should be treated differently than therapists or teachers or other professionals. The answer is very simple: those other professionals, and their clients, aren’t practicing their religion in those roles. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly calls for each us to receive the Sacrament of Confession at least once a year. We are not supposed to participate in the Eucharist without first confessing our sins. When we do confess, the priest does not sit before us as a therapist; he sits as our living conduit to our God. Government demanding that priests break the sacred trust of the Sacrament of Confession will effectively deter people from participating in this sacred conversation with our Savior, even if priests willingly defy the law and refuse to break the seal.

The motivation for the bill is laudatory. All people of good will want to ensure the safety of children and protect them from abuse. But bills requiring priests to reveal what is said to them in a purely religious act of Confession will do little more than deny people the free exercise of their religion, subsequently denying victims a crucial opportunity to receive help and healing.

At this writing, the bill is highly unlikely to move forward during this session. Thank you, Utah Catholics, for learning more and coming forward to oppose what could have been a very harmful change in state law.

Jean Hill is the government liaison for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. She can be reached at jean.jill@dioslc.org.