I’d go to jail to keep confessional sacred: archbishop

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne would be willing to go to jail rather than break the seal of confession to report abuse.

Archbishop Peter Comensoli.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli says he would be willing to go to jail rather than break the seal of confession to report child sex abuse.

Archbishop Comensoli made the comments yesterday as the Andrews government introduced legislation compelling priests to report any physical or sexual child abuse revealed to them in the ­confessional.

The laws remove an exemption for religious leaders to mandatory reporting laws that now apply to professionals, including police, teachers, medical practitioners and early childhood workers.

Similar reforms have been made or are under way in the ACT, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Archbishop Comensoli said his principles of reporting child abuse did not remove his responsibility to the sanctity of seal.

“I hold the principle of mandatory reporting,” he told the ABC.

“I also hold on to the principle of the seal of confession. My own position is that I don’t see that as mutually exclusive.”

Asked whether he would break with tradition, he answered: “Personally, I’ll keep the seal.”

When asked if he was prepared to go to jail, he said: “I’ll say for ­myself, yes.”

However, he said if someone admitted to child abuse during confession, he would convince them to go to the authorities and ask them to “fess up” outside the confessional so he could report it.

“The presumption here is that I know who’s there in front of me. That’s not the practice of confession,” Archbishop Comensoli said.

Anti-abuse advocate Chrissie Foster, whose daughters were ­abused by pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell, said the new law would make a “huge difference”.

“The amount of crimes that have been hidden in the confessional is astounding,” she said, citing the example of Father Michael McArdle, who she said confessed 1500 times to sexually assaulting children over a 25-year period to 30 different priests.

“They all said ‘Go home and pray’. That’s the Catholic priesthood in action,” Ms Foster said. “We don’t want that, and this law will work towards that being changed.

“There’s no excuse that they did not stop this. This is children being raped for decades, centuries. It’s astounding, unbelievable.”

Attorney-General Jill Hen­nessy said the rights of children should always trump people’s ­religious views. “Ultimately, this is about making sure that we start to right the wrongs of systemic abuse,” she said.

Under the laws, priests and ­religious leaders face up to three years in jail if they do not report child physical and sexual abuse ­allegations.

The reforms also include provisions to allow child sexual abuse victims who entered into deeds of settlement with religious or other organisations to have the deeds overturned if the Supreme Court finds them unfair or inequitable.

As well, murderers, pedophiles and other dangerous criminals will be banned from working with children under the closure of a loophole that saw the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals tribunal uphold appeals by dozens of offenders, including child mol­esters, allowing them to obtain permits to work as junior sports umpires, nurses and carers.

Despite the Victorian Coalition previously indicating it would back the laws, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said he wanted to see the detail of the bill before ­offering his public support.