Should Clergy Report Confessions of Child Abuse?
It's a dilemma that crosses denominations. And the laws can be surprisingly inconsistent.
A parishioner, wracked with guilt, goes to his minister to confess the unthinkable: that he has been sexually abusing a child. But that minister, instead of going to police, decides to pray with the abuser instead.
On the face of it, this seems a legitimate ethical dilemma for any minister—keep the confession confidential or turn that person in. But is it? This scenario in 2003 at Homestead Heritage, a religious community in Waco, Texas. The confessor ultimately gave himself up to police a year later, but the specter of his confession reappeared in 2009 when another man from and was sentenced to 35 years earlier this month.
