Washington D.C., Feb 2, 2021 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Louisiana’s attorney general is applauding a federal court order to unseal documents and records that abortion providers have fought to keep secret.
“Now the public may be able to see… […]
Washington D.C., Feb 2, 2021 / 11:05 am (CNA).- A North Dakota bill that would have required priests to violate the seal of confession has been withdrawn by its co-sponsor.
The bill, SB 2180, required priests or other religious figures to report cases of child abuse or neglect to the authorities if they learned about the abuse in a confession or private conversation.
State Sen. Judy Lee (R-West Fargo), who co-sponsored the bill, requested on Jan. 29 that it be withdrawn from consideration. Lee said the controversial bill had become “a distraction” and cited a “lack of understanding about the goal and the circumstances.”
Current state law provides a religious exception for mandatory reporting of confirmed or suspected child abuse. Cases when “the knowledge or suspicion [of abuse] is derived from information received in the capacity of spiritual adviser,” such as in the confessional, do not require reporting the abuse to authorities. The bill sponsored by Lee and other senators would have revoked that exception.
The North Dakota Catholic Conference published a statement on Friday agreeing with Lee’s goals of fighting child abuse, but disagreeing over her legislation.
“We share in Senator’s Lee call to do more to prevent child abuse. We simply disagreed about the bill,” said a statement from the North Dakota Catholic Conference on its Facebook page on Friday.
“The North Dakota Catholic Conference looks forward to working with her and all legislators for the protection of the weakest among us and the common good,” the conference said, thanking all who contacted their state senators in opposition to the legislation.
Lee said that the conversation regarding child abuse “has to continue.”
“We all need to do what we can to protect these little ones by intervening,” she said.
According to the Code of Canon Law, the seal of confession is “inviolable.” A priest cannot reveal the contents of a confession, nor can he say if the confession took place; for violating the seal, a priest can incur a latae sententiae excommunication.
Both of North Dakota’s bishops had previously written letters to Catholics saying that the state’s bill violated religious freedom.
Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck on Jan. 20 described the bill as one that would “[m]ake the State and not our beloved Catholic Church the moderator of our faith and our sacramental life.”
“If this bill passes it will have a direct impact on every Catholic in the State,” he said. “If this bill passes it will impede directly our free exercise of our religious beliefs and practices.”
The Bishop of Fargo said the bill was “inherently biased against religion.”
“The Church condemns the abuse of minors by any person. Priests and deacons are already mandated reporters of any suspected abuse of a minor,” Bishop John Folda of Fargo stated on Jan. 22. “Up until now, spiritual advising has been exempted from this mandate, but SB 2180 would end this exemption.”
Folda stated that the bill, if it became law, would “violate the rights of all people of faith to practice their religion without government interference.”
Furthermore, he warned that “for centuries, tyrants have attempted to infiltrate the sanctity of the confessional for their own ends, and this is yet another attempt to violate the sacred confidentiality of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
Washington D.C., Feb 2, 2021 / 09:45 am (CNA).- Critics of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) say the organization has become extreme and “thoroughly disgraced,” after the center released its 2020 “census of hate groups,” which included numerous pr… […]
Washington D.C., Feb 2, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- The 2021 March for Life was unprecedented, in more than one way.
While the event was closed to the public for the first time ever, it also included an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter for… […]
Denver Newsroom, Feb 2, 2021 / 03:14 am (CNA).- During his final days in office, President Donald Trump floated the idea of founding his own political party – a move that would certainly wreak havoc for Republicans. It’s unclear whether this idea will … […]
CNA Staff, Feb 1, 2021 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- A group of conservative scholars released a letter Sunday highlighting what they consider the most important goods for society that people of good will ought to work to conserve, citing a need for a “new … […]
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 1, 2021 / 05:34 pm (CNA).- The Southern Poverty Law Center has again named mainstream organizations to its list of “hate groups” in the 2020 publication of its annual “Year of Hate and Extremism” report.
The report, which was released Feb. 1, purports to create an easy-to-search list of “hate groups” in the United States, broken down by state. While the list includes neo-Nazi, white nationalist, and chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, the 2020 list also includes mainstream organizations such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, C-FAM, Liberty Counsel, and the Ruth Institute.
These groups are listed under the header “Anti-LGBTQ”, as they are opposed to same-sex marriage.
The inclusion of the Alliance Defending Freedom as a “hate group” raised eyebrows in 2016, when the law firm was first listed. ADF has won numerous cases at the Supreme Court, including cases related to the HHS contraception mandate.
“ADF believes that all people are made in the image of God and that everyone is worthy of dignity and respect,” says an article on the firm’s website titled “Setting the record straight.”
“While ADF takes legal and policy positions that are informed by a biblically-based understanding of marriage, human sexuality, and the sanctity of life, we respect the human dignity of those with whom we disagree and win legal cases that also protect their freedom to express and advocate for their beliefs,” they said.
In 2017, when the Ruth Institute was classified as a “hate group,” the organization lost the ability to fundraise online. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, told the National Catholic Register that the institute was denied its application for the “Amazon Smile” program, which sends portions of purchases to charities in the program, because of the SPLC’s “hate” designation.
“The Ruth Institute’s primary focus is family breakdown and its impact on children: understanding it, healing it, ending it. If this makes us a ‘hate group,’ so be it,” Morse said in September 2017 in response to the controversy.
The SPLC was founded in 1971 and originally monitored persons and groups fighting the civil rights movement. It began to track racist and white supremacist groups like neo-Nazis and affiliates of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s. It also claims to monitor other “extremist” groups such as “anti-immigrant” and “anti-Muslim” groups.
Denver Newsroom, Feb 1, 2021 / 05:18 pm (CNA).- Catholic World Report is no longer suspended on Twitter, but the publication is still concerned about the social media giant’s action against its post describing Biden appointee Dr. Rachel Levine as “a bi… […]
CNA Staff, Feb 1, 2021 / 04:28 pm (CNA).- Upon receiving the a lifetime achievement award from the March for Life, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus reflected on the accomplishments of the pro-life movement and emphasized four of … […]
Washington D.C., Feb 1, 2021 / 03:45 pm (CNA).- California bishops are asking a judge to overturn a state law that extends the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims.
The state now allows adult survivors of child sexual abuse to file c… […]
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