Catholic Church refuses to alter confessional seal

The Catholic Church has defied the abuse royal commission on the confessional seal, but agreed to 98 per cent of its other recommendations.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge says the Catholic Church doesn’t believe removing the seal of the confessional will make children any safer. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The Catholic Church has refused to alter the seal of the confessional but agreed to 98 per cent of the child sex royal commission’s recommendations.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge today stridently defended the church’s decision to defy the royal commission on the grounds it would have no impact on the safety of children.

“The seal is a non-negotiable element of our religious life,’’ he said.

Accusing sections of the media of having an obsession with the sanctity of the confessional, he said the church would not be moved.

The position will be greeted with deep anger by victims of abuse.

Archbishop Coleridge said: ``We don’t believe in fact it will make children any safer.’’

Archbishop Coleridge said many changes had been made by the church but that it had been “sometimes too slow and too timid’’.

“Too many priests, brothers, sisters and lay people in Australia failed in their duty to protect and honour the dignity of all, including, and especially, the most vulnerable – our children and our young people,” Archbishop Coleridge said. “Many bishops failed to listen, failed to believe, and failed to act. Those failures allowed some abusers to offend again and again, with tragic and sometimes fatal consequences.

“The bishops and leaders of religious orders pledge today: Never again.

“There will be no cover-up. There will be no transferring of people accused of abuse. There will be no placing the reputation of the Church above the safety of children.”

The church released many hundreds of pages of documents responding to the royal commission including the response of the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council.

Many changes already have been implemented by the church but some will be conditional on the Vatican.

The ACBC is in discussions with the Holy See after the royal commission called on Pope Francis to make many changes to centuries-old church canon law including that the “pontifical secret” does not apply to abuse allegations and to consider voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy.

Priests are required not to disclose anything that they learn from parishioners revealed during confession.

Few people attend confession in Australian churches today, certainly in the context of previous decades.

Josephite Sister Monica Cavanagh, the president of Catholic Religious Australia, said: “The process is already under way to reform the church’s practices to ensure that safeguarding is integral in all that we do as part of our ministry and outreach in the community.”

“Making the church a safer place for our children and vulnerable persons is at the heart of our commitment to mission.”