A SILENT WITNESS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 355, 11 September 1930, Page 2

A SILENT WITNESS.

SHOULD A PRIEST TELL? 'Should a priest reveal to a court of law information which he has obtained as a priest, not as a layman ? This question was argued during the hearing of a seduction case of Clifden Circuit Court, Ireland. The Rev. Father Hennelly, of Ballycoimely, had been subpoenaed, but he refused to take the oath and give evidence, claiming that if he gave evidence every priest whose business it was to interfere in such cases could be brought into court.

Judge Wyse Power said he had never heard of a clergyman refusing to give evidence in such a case. Turn*

ing to Father Hennelly, he aslceo: “ Do you take the view that you are entitled not to assist the administration of civil justice ? Do you regard yourself as outside the law and able to withhold evidence which may assist me in deciding justice between the parties ? ” Father Hennelly: Yes, because I got the information as a priest. The judge: It does not matter how you got it. It is a sad state of affairs if a priest can decline to assist the administration of justice between man and man. If you said the information was received in confession it might be a different matter, but it was not. Father Hennelly: The distinction to me is very clear-cut as between the information I get as an individual 'and the information I get as a result of relations that must be intimate between a priest and his people.