The Senator delivers bad news and a poor understanding of the role and responsibility of the confessional in Anglican Church practice.

Senator Xenophon said current laws required priests to report sexual abuse cases to police only if they come to light outside the confession booth.

He said the church should declare its protocols “so the public knows what the church does in the case of allegations of abuse in the confessional”.

“If someone has confessed to a priest with information about the abuse of children, whether they’re the perpetrator or not, then shouldn’t the authorities know about that?” he said.

Reported at Church confessions of abuse ‘should be reported‘.

I wrote an earlier article, Confession – focusing on the granting of absolution which refers to an earlier article Confession of sins which explicitly deals with the Seal / sanctity of the Confessional and the confession by a child abuser.