wfn.org | Kirkpatrick Files Amicus Brief Supporting Clergy Confidentiality

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12-May-1998 
98160 
 
    Kirkpatrick Files Amicus Brief 
    Supporting Clergy Confidentiality 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Continuing his support for the principle of clergy 
confidentiality, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly stated clerk 
the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick has filed an amicus curiae brief in a 
Washington state case. 
 
    On May 1, Kirkpatrick joined a brief in the case of "Washington vs. 
Martin" in the Washington State Court of Appeals.  The brief is in support 
of a pastor who refuses to testify in criminal proceedings regarding 
confidential communications made to him by a defendant charged with 
second-degree murder in the death of his infant child. 
 
    After the pastor refused to answer questions at his deposition, the 
trial judge held the pastor in contempt of court and ordered him to report 
a week later to be taken into custody.  He is free pending this appeal. 
 
    The stated clerk's statement of interest noted that while the PC(USA) 
has a very different theology and polity surrounding such confessions, the 
denomination supports the recognition of the Roman Catholic polity by the 
secular authorities in this matter relating to confession. 
 
    Kirkpatrick argued that confessions made in the context of the 
pastor-parishioner relationship in the PC(USA) are no less privileged than 
those made in the formal context of the Roman Catholic confessional.   

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