Washington state will not compel Catholic priests to violate the privacy of confession under an agreement signed by the state’s attorney general, both parties announced on Oct. 10.
A settlement filed in federal court guarantees what the church calls “the seal of Confession” while still requiring clergy to be mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect outside of the confessional setting. Catholic officials said their clerics are already under instruction to report incidents discovered outside of confession.
The stipulated motion, filed jointly in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, permanently ends a July preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing Senate Bill 5375 against Catholic priests who hear confessions.
The district court found that compelling priests to report information learned exclusively in confession would violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
Under the stipulation, the state attorney general, state prosecutors, and 39 county prosecutors agreed to not enforce state laws when clergy—Catholic and others—are told about abuse during confession or a similar ritual.
“Today’s agreement respects the court’s decision in this case and maintains important protections for children,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement. “It keeps crucial portions of Washington’s mandatory reporting law in place, while also preserving the Legislature’s authority to address issues with the law identified by the court.”
The agreement effectively ends two federal lawsuits that challenged SB 5375’s application to clergy. The principal case, Etienne v. Ferguson, was brought by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle, Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, and Bishop Thomas A. Daly of Spokane, represented by WilmerHale, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and First Liberty Institute.
Plaintiffs argued that the 2025 law criminalized adherence to one of Catholicism’s most sacred tenets—the absolute confidentiality of confession. The statute would have allowed jail terms of up to 364 days and fines of $5,000 for priests who declined to report penitents’ admissions of abuse learned solely in confession.
The Rev. Brian V. Pham, a Jesuit priest and attorney who teaches at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington, said the law created contradictory exclusions.
Pham said that as an attorney, the information he receives about abuse is protected by attorney-client privilege. But the Washington law, as originally written, did not extend that confidentiality to a priest-penitent conversation in a confessional.
What’s more, the priest told The Epoch Times, those confessing are often not seen by the priest, nor do they give the type of detail law enforcement would need to investigate a case.
“If I were willing to break the seal of confession, the reporting would go something like this: ‘I would like to report a sex abuse situation.’ ‘Who’s the victim?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Is the victim male or female?’ “I don’t know.’ ‘When did this happen?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Who did this? I don’t know,’” he said.
Pham said such details are important to police, but: “In the confession, we don’t ask details, right? We don’t even ask the person for their name when they confess their sin.”
He said that when either abusers or abuse victims make a confession, he asks whether they can move the conversation outside of the confessional so that he can report the details without violating the sacrament.
Judge David G. Estudillo previously concluded that the bishops were likely to succeed on their Free Exercise claim and that “serious questions” surrounded the law’s compatibility with the Establishment Clause and the Church Autonomy Doctrine.
The filing lists more than 40 county prosecutors as parties to the stipulation. The Department of Justice joined the case earlier this year as a plaintiff-intervenor, arguing that Washington’s law discriminated against religious free exercise. The move followed word from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division that the agency would investigate the Washington statute on free exercise grounds.
After the July injunction, federal attorneys withdrew their separate motion for relief, citing the state’s assurances that it would not enforce the statute while the order remained in effect.
The Oct. 10 motion converts that temporary protection into a permanent injunction. All sides agreed not to seek attorney fees or further appeals, closing months of litigation that drew national attention from religious and legal circles.
The stipulated order states that Washington’s statute “infringes Plaintiffs’ free exercise of religion” and permanently bars state or county officials “from enforcing or attempting to enforce” the law as applied to confessional communications.
Faith-based advocates hailed the settlement as a landmark affirmation of religious liberty.
“Washington was wise to walk away from this draconian law and allow Catholic clergy to continue ministering to the faithful,” said Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “This is a victory for religious freedom and for common sense. Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail.”
When SB 5375 passed in May, Washington became one of 44 states requiring clergy to report suspected child abuse. Lawmakers said the bill would close loopholes that let abuse go unreported.
Catholic leaders initially endorsed the broader aim of safeguarding minors, noting that every diocese in the state already mandates that clergy and church staff report suspected abuse discovered outside of confession. But the church objected to language eliminating long-standing protections for sacramental communications—a safeguard historically mirrored in attorney-client and other professional privilege statutes.
“In every other setting other than the confessional, the Church has long supported—and continues to support—mandatory reporting,” the Washington State Catholic Conference said on X after the settlement was announced. “We’re grateful Washington ultimately recognized it can prevent abuse without forcing priests to violate their sacred vows.”
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