Officials in Washington State have agreed to water down a key provision of a child abuse reporting law passed to prevent misconduct by religious clergy, under pressure from both Catholic bishops and the Trump administration, MSNBC reported on Monday.
These entities, according to Ja'han Jones, "filed lawsuits seeking to overturn a bill signed by Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat and a Catholic, that required faith leaders of all denominations to report allegations of abuse they received in private religious settings — including confession. Though the Catholic Church has a documented history of enabling child sexual abuse, the sponsor of Washington’s bill said the legislation was inspired by reports of abuse within Jehovah’s Witness churches."
Catholic officials argue that any law requiring a priest to break the seal of confession, defying the "clergy-penitent privilege" carveout that exists in most states, amounts to religious discrimination.
Despite Ferguson denouncing the lawsuits, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown has said enforcement of the law will be pared back to ensure its requirements don't require disclosure of things priests learn solely through confession.
"Clergy in Washington will remain mandatory reporters under stipulations filed today by the state Attorney General’s Office and the plaintiffs in lawsuits against the state over Senate Bill 5375," said a press release from Brown's office. "Under the stipulations, however, the state and county prosecutors have agreed — as the court ordered — not to enforce reporting requirements for information clergy learn solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths. The stipulation now awaits approval by the court."
Despite Catholic leaders' insistence that preserving the seal of confession is not mutually exclusive with reporting requirements, "a 2022 report by Boston’s NPR station, WBUR, detailed how this loophole has protected churches from prosecutions and civil lawsuits from victims seeking accountability. Washington had sought to join the few other states without such protections," noted Jones.
