Rule 505. Communications to clergymen

Communications to clergymen.

(a) Definitions. As used in this rule:

(1) A “clergyman” is any duly ordained, licensed, or commissioned minister, pastor, priest, rabbi, or practitioner of any bona fide established church or religious organization; the term “clergyman” includes, and is limited to, any person who regularly, as a vocation, devotes a substantial portion of his or her time and abilities to the service of his or her church or religious organization.

(2) A communication is “confidential” if it is made privately and is not intended for further disclosure except to other persons present in furtherance of the purpose of the communication.

(b) General rule of privilege. If any person shall communicate with a clergyman in the clergyman’s professional capacity and in a confidential manner, then that person or the clergyman shall have a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, that confidential communication.

(c) Who may claim the privilege. The privilege may be claimed by the communicating person, by that person’s guardian or conservator, or by that person’s personal representative if that person has died, or by the clergyman.

Committee Notes

Advisory Committee’s Notes Rule 505 tracks, but supersedes, a preexisting statute creating a clergyman privilege in Alabama. Ala. Code 1975, § 12-21-166. See C. Gamble, McElroy’s Alabama Evidence § 419.01 (4th ed. 1991). Additionally, some provisions are taken from Unif.R.Evid. 505 and Fed.R.Evid. 506 (not enacted). The development of a clergyman privilege, prior to the broad adoption of evidence rules, had occurred in about two-thirds of the states and the privilege had been adopted in those states by both statute and case law. See 8 J. Wigmore, Wigmore on Evidence § 2395 (McNaughton rev. 1961). Sub (a)(1). Definition of “clergyman.” This definition of “clergyman” is necessarily a broad one. It is not sufficiently broad, however, to include “all self-denominated “ministers.” Fed.R.Evid. 506 (not enacted) advisory committee’s note. The terms “ordained,” “licensed,” and “commissioned” focus upon the rules of the particular church or religious organization that govern entrance into the ministry. A good explanation of the term “bona fide established church or religious organization” can be found in the following passage taken from the advisory notes to the proposed, but rejected, Federal Rule of Evidence 506: “A fair construction of the language requires that the person to whom the status is sought to be attached be regularly engaged in activities conforming at least in a general way with those of a Catholic priest, Jewish rabbi, or minister of an established Protestant denomination, though not necessarily on a full-time basis.” Like the statutory privilege it supersedes, the Rule 505 privilege does not attach when the person consulted is not in fact a clergyman, even if the person consulting reasonably believes that person to be a clergyman. This principle is consistent with the corresponding principle found in the psychologist-patient privilege. See Ala.R.Evid. 503(a)(2)(B). Subsection (a)(2). Definition of “confidential.” The definition of this term is consistent wi