The Catholic Lawyer Volume 30 Number 3 Volume 30, Autumn 1986, Number 3 Article 2 Confidentiality of cclesiasticalE Records Reverend Edward Dillion, J.C.D. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Catholic Studies Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. CONFIDENTIALITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDSt REVEREND EDWARD DILLON, J.C.D.* Two fundamental factors govern the confidentiality of ecclesiastical records. They are the nature of the information involved and the manner in which it is obtained. Thus, confessional matter, by its nature, is confi- dential. Further, since it involves information obtained under the seal of the Sacrament, it may never be divulged.' The cloak of confidentiality spread to other communications. Canon 1548, section 2 exempts from any obligation of testifying in an ecclesiasti- cal trial the following persons: "clerics, in regard to whatever was made known to them in connection with their sacred ministry; civil officials, doctors, obstetricians, advocates, notaries and others who are bound to professional secrecy, even by reason of advice rendered, as regards mat- ters subject to this secrecy." A party to a case could release such a person from the obligation of confidentiality, but there are exceptions, the most significant of which is the seal of confession.2 This exemption is extended t The portion of this presentation which deals with the confidentiality of Tribunal records is drawn almost exclusively from a presentation by the same author to the 45th Annual Convention of the Canon Law Society of America held in San Francisco, Cal., in October, 1983.