Spokane, Washington, June 18, 2025
Photo: eglise-russe.ch
Four major Orthodox Christian jurisdictions have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Washington state law that criminalizes priests’ religious obligation to maintain the confidentiality of the Sacrament of Confession.
The lawsuit, Orthodox Church in America v. Ferguson, was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the Orthodox Church in America, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, and the Western American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Fr. Timothy Wilkinson, an Orthodox Church in America priest at St. Luke Orthodox Christian Church in Chattaroy, Washington, is also a plaintiff.
Each Orthodox jurisdiction states in the legal complaint that it has “a religious duty to ensure that their priests maintain the confidentiality of Confession and that the Christian faithful under their care have access to the Sacrament of Confession, offered consistent with the traditions and teachings of the Orthodox Christian faith.”
Washington’s new law, passed in May, makes it a crime for priests to uphold the confidentiality of Confession, forcing them to choose between violating their religious obligations or facing criminal penalties including up to 364 days in jail, a $5,000 fine, and civil liability.
The law maintains confidentiality privileges for attorneys and clients, peer supporters, sexual assault advocates, and alcohol and drug recovery sponsors, but specifically excludes priests from these protections.
The Orthodox Church teaches that priests have a strict religious duty to maintain absolute confidentiality of confessions. According to the Orthodox Church in America’s Guidelines for Clergy cited in the complaint, “The secrecy of the Mystery of Penance, even under strong constraining influence, is considered an unquestionable rule in the entire Orthodox Church.”
Betrayal of the secrecy of Confession will lead to canonical punishment of the priest, the complaint explains, including up to suspension or even defrocking.
The Churches emphasize they don’t object to reporting concerns about children based on information learned outside of Confession, and note that priests are already required to make such reports under their bishops’ policies for information obtained outside the confessional.
“Washington is targeting priests by compelling them to break the sacred confidentiality of confession while protecting other confidential communications,” said ADF Senior Counsel John Bursch. “That’s rank religious discrimination.”
All 50 states, including Washington, have traditionally honored the clergy-penitent privilege, which has long been recognized as part of common law tradition.
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