It's called confession for a reason

One of the flaws of modern American society is the reliance by some on government to solve every problem. Sometimes we need a little faith that there are other ways.

Such is the case, we think, with a bill before the Nevada Senate to require Catholic priests to report child abuse or neglect they hear about in confession.

Priests take the sanctity of the confessional very seriously, as do the people making the confessions. Priests have gone to jail, even risked their lives, to protect the privacy of those conversations.

There is a higher power at work there. They are called confessions because Catholics are expected to bare their souls and ask for forgiveness.

To open the door for any reason would cast a doubt on a trust built over centuries. And once the door is open, what reason is there to think laws wouldn't soon follow requiring priests to all kinds of lawbreakers.

More than that, however, bills in Nevada and a half-dozen other states attempting to remove the privacy privilege from priests assume a government agency or prosecutor is the ultimate answer to child abuse and neglect.

Yes, we need to have faith that government will punish the guilty and protect the innocent. But we should also have faith that there are other means to the same end.

Priests work in mysterious ways sometimes. They can be wise, persuasive and full of counsel. We can't imagine a priest -- or any minister, for that matter -- hearing a confession of child abuse or neglect without devising a way to rectify the situation.

Without the priest's privilege, there is the possibility someone would withhold a damning secret even from him, for fear of being arrested. Then who would be able to help the child?

Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said she may withdraw the bill and concentrate on other ways to protect children from abuse or neglect. That seems to be the prudent course.