So one thing i didn't get is why the priest was excommunicated. He said he broke the seal of confession but he actually didn't. All he actually said was that he didn't believe Larson committed suicide. I'm not Catholic, so maybe somebody who is can clear this up for me. Is that really violating confession?
shareI'm catholic and I was also wondering, I mean he was just given his opinion, he didn't tell something that the victim confessed to him.
shareThe priest doesn't know why he's being excommunicated. He assumes it's the one among the five things he says one can be excommunicated for.
share[deleted]
It happened too fast. The Church is highly bureaucratized and there are hearings and trials involved, plus appeals. Remember, too, the Church moves even worse priests around w/o punishing them at all.
Thus, I believe the priest QUIT and blamed Billy for it. I think he felt guilty for not speaking up the first time.
The simple way Billy and Brittany got him was inventive.
I think it's implied that the priest's knowledge of Larson's inner state, from confession, is the basis for the priest admitting Larson was not suicidal. I agree, though, it was a bit of a logical leap. What is missing is that if Larson was not suicidal, then what was he confessing? He must have been confessing something, otherwise there would be no confession seal for the priest to have broken. No one goes to confession and says, "I confess that I don't want to commit suicide," because NOT committing suicide is not a sin. So what did he confess? I think the missing link is probably that Larson confessed to having colluded with testing toxic chemicals or something, and that is why the priest was defrocked.
by the way defrocked (removed from the clerical state) is different than excommunicated. The priest was defrocked but probably not excommunicated.