When Are Statements to Clergy Confidential and Privileged?

• Key point: Not all statements to clergy are protected by the clergy-penitent privilege. To be privileged, a statement must be made to a minister, in confidence, while acting in his or spiritual capacity as a spiritual adviser.

• Key point: A minister's observations of a counselee's demeanor is not protected by the clergy-penitent privilege.

• Key point: The presence of a third party during an otherwise confidential counseling session between a minister and counselee may prevent the conversation from being privileged.

• A Minnesota court ruled that most statements made by a murder suspect to two ministers at a public hospital were privileged. An unemployed psychologist (the "defendant") lived with a woman and her 23-month-old son. Late one night, while the infant's mother was at work, the defendant brought the child into a hospital emergency room. The child was not breathing ...