By Rev. Gregory Jensen -
Recently, my Madison, Wisconsin, parish offered to take up a collection to pay my bail and legal fees. The offer while sincere was premature and tongue in cheek. But a proposed change in state law brings with it a real possibility of putting me in legal jeopardy.
My congregation’s concern for me stems from the Clergy Mandatory Reporter Act (CMRA) being put forward by Democrat state legislators Sen. Lena Taylor, Rep. Chris Taylor, and Rep. Melissa Sargent.
As in other states, clergy in Wisconsin are mandated reporters of suspected cases of child abuse or mistreatment. If passed CMRA would, according to one of the bill’s co-sponsors, require “that members of the clergy report any instances of child abuse, including sexual abuse, ending the loophole of unjust cover-ups and misreporting currently occurring in our state.” The “loophole” referred to is the priest-penitent privilege that exempts clergy from reporting abuse revealed solely in confession (“the seal of confession”).
Catholic League president Bill Donohue said the bill seeks “to bust the seal of the confessional” and that the “government has no business policing the sacraments of the Catholic Church.” Still, Rep. Sargent takes exception to what she calls “an ‘us vs. them’ narrative” rather than taking seriously what is, in fact, a reasonable concern about the constitutional and practical deficiencies of the legislation.
More HERE
