I am starting my take with the big news of
the last couple of weeks, The Phone Hacking Scandal. For those who are hearing
about this for the first time, they can catch up here. My main concern
about the whole drama is the distractions and misplaced outrage that is going
on. The Metropolitan Police has an awful lot to answer for, but instead a lot
of energy is being expended on attacking the Murdoch’s and there is even an
unbelievable suggestion that the Prime minister should resign. Frankly, the Met
should be taking a large portion of the blame for this scandal than they are currently.
The allegations against the Met are of a serious nature that bother on
corruption and the near criminal manner of improperly investigating/prosecuting
the original and subsequent revelations. That newspapers made illicit payment
to some officers of the Met to obtain confidential information and that the Met
did not investigate the original phone hacking allegation properly and then
refused to reopen the investigation in the light of new evidence, is truly a
scandal. The Met should be properly investigated with relation to the
involvement of some of its officers in the whole scandal, appropriate actions
taken and a process of reform should commence.
Apart from the Met, I hope this case will provide an opportunity for an
appropriate ethical and moral code to be instituted, to guide the activities of
the press in order to avoid abuses and similar incidents by their members. I do
not think that the need to expose corrupt public official and erring
celebrities should grant the press with powers, if exercised wrongly, can lead
them to act unlawfully and act in manners that are criminal in nature. Laws similar to the Freedom of Information
Act should be provided to assist the press in its work of investigative
journalism but this must be done in an ethical manner. Proper statutory regulation should be provided
for the industry rather than leave it to self regulation which has clearly
failed. The work of the Press is too
important to be allowed fail but on the other hand go unregulated properly.
The call for the Prime Minister to quit is
premature and smacks of political opportunism. Yes, he can be accused of poor
judgment and being arrogant for refusing
to heed prior warning, but to call for his resignation is an unnecessary
distraction and totally ridiculous. I am not a supporter of David Cameron or
the Conservative Party but He is not being accused of any form of inappropriate
action and besides the alleged phone hacking happened under the watch of Tony
Blair and Gordon Brown both of whom failed to address the issue properly or
call for an inquiry (at least in the case of Gordon Brown). And lets be honest
they all having been cozying up to the
Murdoch’s; Margret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron even Ed
Milliband. The only politician who has been vindicated by the whole scandal in
retrospect is Vince Cable.
The second story that caught my attention
is the plan by the Irish government to compel priests to break the “seal of confession” he has with his penitents. This is as a fallout of the Cloyne Report which
blamed church authorities including the Vatican for not dealing appropriately
with the abuse scandal even as recent as 2008. This is wrong on so many levels
and a case of jumping into decision without careful consideration of it
consequence or what it ought to achieve.
It is important to note that the sacrament
of reconciliation is more of a spiritual exercise that appeals to the
conscience of the penitent to come forward to confess his (or her) sins to God
(very important point) but in the presence of a priest. In return, the Priest
is sworn to Secrecy, a duty that is absolute even if the sin confessed is a
criminal one. Under no circumstance (even under the threat of their own death
or that of others) is the priest to betray the penitent by divulging to anyone,
any sin (even murder) learnt in the process of administering the sacrament of
penance. This is very important because
it allows the penitent to freely examine his conscience genuinely without fear
or pressure and seek true reconciliation with God. This practice should not be
interfered with by any secular authority. The priest can always appeal to the penitent
conscience to report any confessed criminal offence to the authority as part of
his penance, but that is all he can do.
According to an article by David Quinn,
this call by the Irish government has no precedence and will at best be counter
productive as a ‘sinner’ who knows a
priest who hears his confession of a crime is under a duty to report it to the
authorities, will ‘out of fear’ avoid
the sacrament. David Quinn further writes:
“But our Government is clearly
missing something that every other Government can see, which is that at a
minimum such a law is very unlikely to lead to a single conviction and at a
maximum will be counter-productive and will make society less safe, rather than
more safe.
It could equally be argued that a priest who hears
a confession of murder must report it to the police. But if the murderer knew
that priests were under such a legal requirement, the murderer would not make
such a confession unless he was going to the police anyway.
On the other hand, a murderer who wishes to
confess a crime to a priest, under the absolute seal of the confessional, is on
the road to repentance and attending confession gives a priest the chance to
encourage the murderer to turn himself over to the authorities or at the very
least to cease his criminal activities.
The logic is the same with child abusers. No child
abuser will go to a priest in confession knowing the priest is required to
inform the police. But cutting off the avenue of confession to a child abuser
makes it less likely that he will talk to someone who can persuade him to take
the next step.
Various relationships in society are considered
privileged and confidential. One is between a person and his or her confessor.
Another is between a doctor and patient, and another is between a lawyer and
client.
In creating a legal requirement that priest break
the seal of confession under certain circumstances; the Irish State is going
down a road very few other states in history have gone down. We need to
seriously reconsider this extremely unwise and unprecedented proposal.”
The Irish Government should seek true
protection of its children from abuse both within the church and in a vast
majority of the cases within the family (and/or society). Interfering with a
sacred sacrament will not achieve a single result and only just smacks of
political grand standing.
