Rule 2:503.CLERGY AND COMMUNICANT PRIVILEGE (derived from Code §§ 8.01- 400 and 19.2-271.3).

Rule 2:503 protects confidential spiritual communications from compelled disclosure in court. It opens with a definition: a “clergy member” is a regular minister, priest, rabbi, or accredited practitioner over the age of 18 belonging to a religious organization or denomination usually called a church — a definition broad enough to reach a range of faith traditions without limiting itself to any one of them.

Subdivision (a) covers civil actions. A clergy member cannot be required to testify or to disclose, in discovery, the contents of notes, records, or written documentation, where doing so would reveal information communicated in confidence — properly entrusted to the clergy member in a professional capacity, necessary to the clergy member’s usual functions, and shared because the person communicating it was seeking spiritual counsel or advice connected to that information. The protection covers information a person shared about themselves or about someone else.

Subdivision (b) covers criminal actions with a narrower focus: a clergy member cannot be compelled, in testifying as a witness, to disclose information the accused communicated in confidence under the same conditions — entrusted in a professional capacity, necessary to the clergy member’s usual functions, and shared while the accused was seeking spiritual counsel or advice. Unlike subdivision (a), the criminal provision protects the accused’s communications specifically, rather than any person’s, and it addresses testimony rather than document discovery.