Confession Dies Amongst Catholics?!?

Reporting rules of the modern era seemingly kill an ancient sacrament according this report from a local Catholic mag . . . Check-it: 

"Under canon law, the seal of confession is absolute and inviolable; Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne warned priests in May that they would face excommunication for breaking it. But Catholic supporters of the Washington statute say the church has a legal and ethical duty to report sex abuse, even abuse discussed during the sacrament, to the proper authorities — and that keeping secret these potential crimes only protects predators.

"Of course, the state's attempts to root out sexual abuse by focusing, in part, on the privacy of confession assumes that American Catholics are still celebrating the sacrament. But only a minority of the faithful are seeking out confession at all, finds author James O'Toole in his urgent, provocative new study of the sacrament, For I Have Sinned: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

National Catholic Reporter: Is confession dead? Q&A with a Catholic historian on the state of the sacrament