Washington bill that would have forced priests to break Seal of Confession is ‘dead’

Michie · Feb 22, 2024

‘SB 6298 has not been scheduled for an executive session, and thus will not be moving forward this session,’ Washington State Catholic Conference spokeswoman Adrienne Joyce told LifeSiteNews.

OLYMPIA, Washington (LifeSiteNews) — A bill in Washington that would force priests to violate the Seal of Confession is dead.

“SB 6298 has not been scheduled for an executive session, and thus will not be moving forward this session,” Washington State Catholic Conference spokeswoman Adrienne Joyce told LifeSiteNews this afternoon.

Under the proposed law, “clergy [have] a duty to warn the department or law enforcement when they have reasonable cause to believe that a child is at imminent risk of being abused or neglected, even if that belief is informed by information obtained in part as a result of a penitential communication.”

Breaking the Seal of Confession is an excommunicable offense.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the ‘sacramental seal,’ because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains ‘sealed’ by the sacrament.

Legislative staffers confirmed the bill’s status in phone interviews with LifeSiteNews prior to Joyce’s email, as did the Diocese of Spokane. The diocese said the bill was “dead.”

Democratic Senator Noel Frame wrote the “compromise” bill this year alongside the WSCC, according to comments she made during last Friday’s hearing. While she wanted to eliminate all exemptions, she said this was the strongest bill she could currently pass.

Her communications director told LifeSiteNews this afternoon that the bill is all but dead.

“Today is the deadline for it to be passed out of committee,” Alex Bond said in a phone interview. “So, if it does not pass out of committee by the end of the day today, it is dead.”

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