Bishop Barron: Without an Exception, WA Abuse Law Violates Religious Liberty

Bishop Barron: Without an exception, WA abuse law violates religious liberty

A Washington state law that would require priests to violate the seal of confession to report abuse violates the First Amendment, Bishop Barron told OSV News.

Barron: With no clergy-penitent exception, WA abuse law threatens religious liberty

TACOMA — A contested Washington state law that would require priests to violate the seal of confession to report abuse “represents an egregious violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment,” Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who is a member of the U.S. Religious Liberty Commission, told OSV News.“That the state could interfere in this most sacred discipline of the church should alarm not only Catholics, but …