This is a very interesting interview that Zenit News had with a priest in Oregon whose hearing of a confession in prison was secretly taped by order of the local DA. The issue being challenged is the seal of the sacrament between confessor and penitent, a privilege that was always protected in this country both by common law and the freedom of religion guaranteed in the First and Fourth Amendment. What the DA did here was not only an egregious violation of natural justice and respect for religion but it was illegal, ergo criminal.
SALEM, Oregon, AUG. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- When Father Timothy Mockaitis heard inmate Conan Wayne Hale’s sacramental confession on April 22, 1996, he had no idea it was being recorded.
He also didn’t know that the event would spur an unprecedented legal case that attempted to demonstrate that a violation of the seal of the confessional was an infringement on the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Father Mockaitis details these pivotal events in his new book, “The Seal: A Priest’s Story.” Read the full interview here.
