OLYMPIA, Washington (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Robert Barron has added his voice and legal opposition to a state of Washington law that orders Catholic priests to violate the Seal of Confession or go to jail.
The Winona-Rochester prelate filed an amicus brief on July 4 against Washington Senate Bill 5375. As extensively covered by LifeSiteNews, the bill threatens priests with jail time or fines unless they violate the sacred Seal of Confession, an excommunicable offense, to report some cases of alleged abuse.
The state is already being sued by Catholic bishops, as well as Orthodox churches. The federal Department of Justice is also seeking to intervene in the case and has announced an investigation into the state. Priests will not comply with the law, according to Washington bishops.
Now Barron, a popular voice in the Church through his Word on Fire media company, is asking to intervene in the case as well. He filed his brief in the District Court for the Western District of Washington in the case Etienne v. Ferguson.
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The filing notes that Barron is also a member of the United States Religious Liberty Commission and thus the prelate “has a designated interest in ensuring the First Amendment rights of priests and penitents are upheld in courts, and in preventing encroachments on those rights from spreading to other jurisdictions.”
The bishop filed the brief with the aid of a Washington law firm and the Thomas More Society, a well-respected litigator for religious liberty. The amicus brief also cites his expertise on the issue based on his past experience fighting similar legislation in California where he was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Barron cites case law that affirms the importance of the confessional. He also reiterates to the court that this law will harm sinners who seek forgiveness.
“Catholics believe that through this sacramental encounter, a sinner accesses the healing and forgiving grace of Christ,” the filing states. “In particular, the priest, Catholics believe, is operating in the very person of Christ, and, therefore, the penitent is speaking to and hearing from the Lord himself. Hence, absolutely nothing ought to stand in the way of a sinner who seeks this font of grace.”
“This gives rise to the indispensable importance of the seal: If a penitent is aware the priest might (let alone must) share with others what was given in the most sacred confidence, he or she would be reluctant indeed to ever approach Confession,” Barron warns.
He also points out that priests are singled out for revealing what is normally considered privileged communications – a benefit reserved for attorneys and spouses.
The brief argues the bill is driven by religious animus and thus violates court precedent. Democratic sponsor state senator Noel Frame, a heterodox, professed Catholic, dismissed religious liberty concerns. In fact, she berated Bishop Frank Schuster for defending the Seal of Confession during testimony against the bill, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.
“SB 5375 expressly targets the confessional seal based on religious status,” the brief continues. “As noted, the very face of the
statute excises ‘members of the clergy’ (and only members of the clergy) from an otherwise existing exemption for privileged communications to Washington’s mandatory reporting requirement for supervisors.”
Frame’s comments further show the animosity she has towards the Catholic Church, according to the brief.
It states:
Senator Frame’s official statements regarding Confession remove any doubt. During the Senate Human Services Committee Hearing in January, she equated support for a clergy-penitent exception to the belief that “religious freedom [is] more important than preventing the . . . sexual abuse of children,” and that it is “traumatizing” to promote the same.
It goes without saying that characterizing proponents of the time-honored seal of Confession as thereby supporting child sexual abuse ‘is inappropriate’ for a Legislature ‘charged with the solemn responsibility of fair and neutral’ adoption of Washington’s laws.
The amicus brief also details other comments by Frame that show animosity, according to Barron.
Washington’s leftist governor targets his ideological opponents
Furthermore, Washington’s governor has a history of targeting his opponents.
Left-wing Governor Bob Ferguson signed the bill in May, defending it by mentioning that his uncle used to be a Jesuit priest. Gov. Ferguson, an ardent supporter of abortion and the LGBT agenda, mentioned he himself had been to Confession.
“My uncle was a Jesuit priest for many years, (I’ve) been to Confession myself – and so I’m very familiar with that,” Ferguson said during the signing. “I felt this was important legislation,” he added.
While running for governor, but still serving as attorney general, he threatened prosecution against several other candidates with the same name.
He also initiated legally dubious investigations into pro-life nonprofits as attorney general. He additionally supports prosecuting Christians who decline to provide their services to homosexual “weddings.”
Bishop Barron, for his part, has repeatedly scandalized faithful Catholics, for example, when he described Jesus as the “privileged route” – rather than the only way (Acts 4:12) – to salvation, praised a book by notorious LGBT activist Father James Martin, S.J., suggested that hell may be empty, and told a homosexual commentator that he would not seek to reverse homosexual “marriage.”
“I don’t think I want to press it further,” Barron told Dave Rubin about homosexual “marriage” in a 2017 interview. “I think it would probably cause much more problems and dissension and difficulty if we keep pressing it.”
