From the Wool-sack
| Jurisdiction | California,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 14 No. 9 Pg. 2005 |
| Pages | 2005 |
| Publication year | 1985 |
1985, November, Pg. 2005. From the Wool-Sack
Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Reflections.
The good news is that if you confess your sins in accordance with the rules of your church, you may end up in heaven. The bad news is there may be an intermediate stop in jail depending on what you confess and to whom you confess it.
Many of you have read of Operation FIST (Fugitive Investigative Strike Team). That was the program designed by the U.S. Marshals Service to catch fugitives from justice. The Department sent out letters to fugitives advising them that they had won free champagne flights to the Bahamas, dinners at exclusive restaurants, etc. Criminals, being for the most part human and therefore slightly avaricious, were quick to respond to the offers. They were chagrined to find that their quick response resulted in their arrest rather than fete.(fn1) So beguiled were some criminals that they asked that their incarceration be delayed until they could take advantage of the free prize they believed themselves to have won.
At least one California parish priest considers the confessional a logical extension of Operation FIST. He believes that the promise of heavenly absolution, although less tangible than a free trip to the Bahamas, can also be used to apprehend until then undetected felons.
A parishioner came to him and confessed that she had embezzled $28,000 from his church while serving as a volunteer. The priest was furious. As she describes it, "I was hoping to gain absolution and forgiveness. He didn't give me forgiveness. He was angry and shouted at me that this was a case of grand larceny and what I needed was a good attorney." The priest was right. Preferring the certain punishment inflicted by the secular law to the doubtful punishment she might suffer at the hands of the Almighty (more especially if he granted her absolution), the priest reported her to church authorities. She was prosecuted by the district attorney, convicted and sentenced to perform 200 hours of community service and to spend seven months in jail.
The only good thing to come out of this, as far as I am concerned, is that this is a spiritual malpractice suit I can understand. Such suits are the latest...
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