NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PRIESTS CONVENTION 11th SEPTEMBER 2018

I am a reluctant presenter at this Conference for many reasons but primarily because I am aware that, as a result of the horrendous abuse perpetrated by Catholic clergy which was detailed at the Royal Commission, the morale of Catholic clergy – and especially the morale of the “good guys” – the many dedicated and selfless men who are the face of God to the people to whom they minister, has taken a battering throughout the five years of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse and following the release of the report in December 2017.

The debate has been going on for some time about the seal of Confession (the Sacrament of Reconciliation) in the Catholic Church. There have been calls to make it obligatory for priests, if they are told in the sacrament that the penitent is sexually abusing a minor, they must inform the authorities. This is a difficult one, since the seal of confession (the requirement that a priest can never reveal what he hears in confession) is one of the most serious obligations for any priest, and if that is compromised in any way it undermines the sacrament as we have known it.