Washington state has dropped its efforts to require clergy to report child abuse or neglect when the information is revealed during the rite of confession, but left other provisions intact, ...

Officials in Washington state have agreed to back off a controversial effort to force priests there to violate the seal of confession as part of a mandatory abuse reporting law. A motion filed in ...

According to a rumor spreading online in summer 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration does not think clergy should have to report child abuse. Confession is a rite sacred to Catholics in ...

(The Conversation) — Two groups of clergy challenged a Washington state law meant to help fight child abuse – but which could have required clergy to break the seal of confession. (The Conversation) — ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Washington law that would have demanded clergy members to report child abuse and neglect in all circumstances has been blocked by a federal court. U.S. District Judge David ...

In May, the state Legislature passed a bill requiring clergy to report child abuse, bringing Washington in line with most of the rest of the country after previous efforts to hold church abuse ...

The St. James Cathedral is the cathedral for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and its Archbishop Paul Etienne, who is one of nearly a dozen plaintiffs suing the state over a new law that would ...

(THE CONVERSATION) For months, a Washington state bill generated controversy over two critical interests: protecting children from abuse and protecting the freedom of religion. Signed by the governor ...