Court in attack on seal of confession

The Diocese of Baton Rouge has accused Louisiana’s Supreme Court of “an attack on the seal of confession”. The court reinstated a lower court order, compelling a priest to testify about what a child told him in the confessional, writes Michael Sean Winters.

The alleged confession was made in 2008 by a 12-year-old girl, whose parents are claiming she confessed to the priest that she engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour with a man who attended the church. The man died of a heart attack in February 2009, and the girl’s parents filed a civil lawsuit five months later. 

“This matter … is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution of the United States,” the diocese said.