Hobart’s Archbishop Julian Porteous has rejected the Tasmanian Government’s decision to accept mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse made in Confession while reiterating his strong commitment to the protection of children and vulnerable people in the care of Catholic organisations.
At the same time he has confirmed his commitment to mandatory reporting outside the Confession.
After Tasmania’s attorney general Elise Archer told the state parliament on 20 June that the island state accepted in principle the need to include priests as mandatory reporters, and to lift the veil from the confessional for the purpose of such reporting, Archbishop Porteous confirmed that Catholic priests were obliged by Church law to uphold the Seal of Confession.
South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have already passed laws to extend mandatory reporting of child abuse to religious Confessions. Sydney’s Catholic Weekly newspaper reported that Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher had told priests that they were required “to resign themselves to punishment, even martyrdom, rather than break the seal of Confession; the faithful likewise expect this of them”.
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