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Roman Catholic figures and the U.S. Justice Department are fighting to block enforcement of a law passed by the state legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) that would add clergy members to the list of people required to report child abuse and neglect — the point of contention surrounds information Catholic clergy learn from people during private confessions.
Implementation of Washington’s controversial law looms large this month, as it is slated to take effect on July 27.
Current law — which does not include clergy among the categories of people who are required to report child abuse — notes that people at a nonprofit or for-profit organization must report child abuse or neglect by an individual they supervise if that individual regularly has unsupervised access to kids in their role at the organization. But there is a carveout stipulating that reporting is not required when the information is fully obtained via privileged communication.
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The new law includes that same language, but the carveout is preceded by the words, “Except for members of the clergy,” indicating that the carveout does not apply to them.
The initial complaint in May from plaintiffs including Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seattle Paul D. Etienne and multiple other Catholic clergy members, asserted that “Washington is targeting the Roman Catholic Church in a brazen act of religious discrimination.”
A motion for preliminary injunction filed in June declared, “Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court issue a preliminary injunction blocking the investigation and enforcement of RCW § 26.44.030, as amended by Senate Bill 3575, to the extent it applies to information learned by Catholic clergy through the Sacrament of Confession.”
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The U.S. Justice Department has also taken aim at the state’s new law regarding the issue of confessions.
“Senate Bill 5375 unconstitutionally forces Catholic priests in Washington to choose between their obligations to the Catholic Church and their penitents or face criminal consequences, while treating the priest-penitent privilege differently than other well-settled privileges. The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, according to a June press release.
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The U.S. government filed a motion for a preliminary injunction last month.
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