THE United States Catholic Church's drive for greater transparency after a raft of sex scandals is being taken literally by one Californian bishop.
He has ordered confessionals be equipped with see-through windows.
Bishop Patrick McGrath, of the Diocese of San Jose, ordered the installation of windows or glass doors in confessionals and counselling rooms "to have the perception match the fact that people are safe" with priests, Vicar-General Francis Cilia said.
"This still allows for privacy, it still allows for inaudible confession, the secrecy of what goes on," Vicar-General Cilia said. "It just makes it a bit more open. We think it's the prudent thing to do."
Bishop McGrath's order will affect hundreds of confessionals and counselling rooms in the diocese's 52 churches and missions.
The changes have to be made within a year.
Vicar-General Cilia said old-style confessionals, in which the priest and the penitent were in adjoining chambers separated by a screen, would not be affected.
The bishop's order, which diocese officials believe to be the first of its kind in the country, follows a summit in June at which US Catholic leaders agreed on new policies to combat sexual abuse by priests.
Some Catholics were not happy with San Jose's new confessionals but the vicar-general said maximum confidentiality would be assured.
"There is nothing private about saying 'I'm a sinner'," he said. "It is what you tell the priest when you are in confession that is private."
He also said in some European churches, confession had long been more public than in the US.
"In St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the priests is in an area that is curtained off, while the penitent is kneeling right there in the open," the vicar-general said.
-- REUTERS