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189 Law & Just. - Christian L. Rev. 126 (2022)
Confession in the Anglican Church - Breaking the Seal?

handle is hein.journals/ljusclr189 and id is 25 raw text is: 126 CONFESSION IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH - BREAKING THE SEAL? RICHARD DEADMAN Abstract: This article briefly traces the residual presence of the Seal of the Confessional in the Church of England after the Edwardine Reformation prior to its modification in the Canons of 1603/4 and then the resurgence of interest in the issue during the Catholic Revival of the nineteenth century; and the provisions made in response to this over the next hundred years or so. This is then set in the context of the wider Anglican Communion and the various approaches to the seal reflecting the varying weight placed on the inherited tradition by different provinces. It then proceeds to consider whether the seal is or would be respected by the temporal authorities in some of the jurisdictions in which the Anglican Church is present - particularly the complex questions raised by the established status of the English Church and its law. It notes the considerable pressure on the seal in some jurisdictions following reports of the child abuse scandals and the part that they assign to the seal of the confessional in encouraging the continuing abuse of children and vulnerable people. It then considers the response of the Australian Church and the possibility that England may follow suit in qualifying the seal, questioning whether a qualified seal is a seal at all. The inheritance of the English Reformation Many Anglicans would be surprised to know that the issue of the Seal of the Confessional was a question for English Anglican Law. Whilst the practice of auricular confession is present in some more Catholic minded congregations, even there it is not a strong element in Christian practice; many might believe that it was swept away at the Reformation;1 and doubtless, under the influence of preaching and teaching this was generally the case. However, legally speaking, the practice of auricular confession was more simply abandoned than swept away. There were proposals to outlaw the practice,2 but they came to nothing. At the same time, a remnant of it survived in the more obscure pages of the Book of Common Prayer. In what follows, we shall consider the nature of the Seal, which precludes disclosure of what is said during such a confession. This will be a narrowly focused consideration, generally avoiding the broader subject of See Tovey, P (ed), Kennedy, D & Atherstone, A: Common Worship Reconciliation and Restoration (Grove Booklets - W 187 2006) p13. 2 eg. In a General Note of matters to be moved by the Clergy1563 s3.38 in Bray, G: The Anglican Canons 1529 - 1947 (Boydell Press 1998) p735.

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