Edwards

Defendant was convicted by the court, sitting without a jury, on four counts of grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. 1) following denial of her claim of a clergy-penitent privilege (Evid. Code, §§ 1030- 1034). On appeal from the order granting probation, we affirmed the determination of the trial court. We granted rehearing to reconsider defendant’s claim that inculpatory statements made by her to Father Rankin, an Episcopalian priest, were in the nature of a sacramental confession or “penitential communication” privileged from disclosure. We refile our original opinion as modified.

Facts

We recite the factual background against which the claim of statutory privilege is presented. (The facts underlying the embezzlement counts are essentially undisputed.)

Around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 5, 1984, defendant Sheridan Edwards telephoned Father William Rankin, the rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere, and said she urgently needed to talk to him about “a problem.” Father Rankin, who was scheduled to leave early the next morning to attend a week-long meeting in Oklahoma, asked defendant, a church member, if her problem could wait until he returned. After…