TA 4/2009 (114. vuosikerta)

A Time to be Silent and a Time to Speak: A Church Employee’s Conflict between Confidentiality and Duty to Report — The article discusses the relationship of the duty to report enacted in the Child Welfare Act which entered into force at the beginning of 2008 and the confidentiality provisions that apply in the work of church employees. Specific focus is on the confidentiality of confession made to and spiritual care provided by priests and lectors as related to the duty to report, and on the criticism voiced against the confidentiality of confession. The new Child Welfare Act clarifies and specifies the duty to report. There is no conflict between the Church Act and the Child Welfare Act regarding the duty to report and confidentiality. The confidentiality of confession of priests and lectors is absolute and unconditional.

Alcibiades and the Book of Elchasai — The Book of Elchasai is known to western Christianity through the preaching of Alcibiades, who travelled from Syria to Rome in the early 3rd century. Alcibiades invoked the Book of Elchasai in attempting to invite Christians and other residents of Rome to receive a new ritual of baptism for the forgiveness of even the heaviest of sins. Hippolytus, who was in favour of strict ecclesiastical discipline, attacked this approach and used it as leverage in a power struggle within the Roman Christian community. By comparison with other sources, certain features in the preaching of Alcibiades that go back to the Book of Elchasai can be identified.