Baton Rouge, La., Mar 2, 2016 / 03:02 am
Louisiana law can't force Catholic priests to violate the seal of the confessional, a judge in the state reaffirmed on Friday.
State District Judge Mike Caldwell said in court Feb. 26 that a state law requiring clergy to report sex abuse of minors violated a priest's religious freedom protections for confidential confessions.
The ruling concerns a lawsuit filed by Rebecca Mayeaux, now 22, against Father Jeff Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Mayeaux charges that in 2008, at the age of 14, she told the priest during confession that a 64-year-old parishioner was abusing her. The priest was pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Clinton, 35 miles northeast of Baton Rouge.
Her lawsuit charged that the priest was negligent in reporting abuse and that the diocese failed to train him properly in mandatory abuse reporting law. Mayeaux claims that the priest responded to the abuse report by telling her to "sweep it under the floor and get rid of it," the Associated Press reports.