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brian
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 03:02 pm |
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I regularly attend a Byzantine Catholic Church and want to receive the sacrament of confession here. I came across this from a Vatican document. What exactly does it mean?
"14. All Eastern Rite priests, either in conjunction with Baptism or separately from it, can confer this sacrament validly on all the faithful of any rite including the Latin; licitly, however, only if the regulations both of the common and the particular law are observed.(15)"
Should I be worried that the priest needs to know I am Latin Rite and somehow follow any sort of Latin regulation? I do not know what these terms mean? What would be the regulations of the common and particular law mean and how will I know they are being complied to?
Is there any reason to think I should keep receiving this sacrament in the Latin Rite until I formally change rites to avoid confusion. I am a someone who worries a little bit too much about details and I hope to go somewhere where I am positve tha things are being done correctly in important matters.
Also, does the priest assign penance on Eatern Rites or is this more of a Latin practice. I am assuming that if he does not it is still valid. Thanks.
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Dave Armstrong
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 03:21 pm |
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I'm no expert on these kinds of things (being more knowledgeable in theology and apologetics per se). But I think it is not too much to worry about. Just tell the priest you are of the Latin Rite and see what he says. He may just say that you should confess in the manner that you always have. He is probably familiar with it. I'm pretty sure the Eastern rites assign penance also. I don't think that would be any different.
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CajunRick
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 03:54 pm |
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brian wrote: "14. All Eastern Rite priests, either in conjunction with Baptism or separately from it, can confer this sacrament validly on all the faithful of any rite including the Latin; licitly, however, only if the regulations both of the common and the particular law are observed.(15)"
Should I be worried that the priest needs to know I am Latin Rite and somehow follow any sort of Latin regulation?
There are differences between the rites regarding practices. If you request the sacrament from an Eastern Rite priest in a Latin Rite church, he would have to have permission of the bishop, pastor, etc. That would not apply in his own parish, which is under the jurisdiction of his eparch.
A priest can't hear confession just anywhere. He needs to have "faculties" which means permission of the bishop of that jurisdiction. But if you're in his church and he's hearing confession, you can be certain he has faculties. This is one of those rules written for the priest, not the laity. As a Catholic, you can validly receive Eucharist, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick from any Catholic priest at any time.
No worries. Even if he does it illicitly, it's his problem, not yours.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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brian
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 04:41 pm |
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Does you answer differ from the answer I was given here regarding i permission is needed, or if it is ok so long as permission is not denied? or are you saying the same thing?
"But meanwhile, please note that every priest who has "faculties" to hear Confessions in a given place automatcally has faculties to hear Confessions in every Catholic Church in that place, unless a local bishop has specifically excluded him, by name and in writing. Vatican II settled that one."
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CajunRick
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 04:54 pm |
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brian wrote: Does you answer differ from the answer I was given here regarding i permission is needed, or if it is ok so long as permission is not denied? or are you saying the same thing?
"But meanwhile, please note that every priest who has "faculties" to hear Confessions in a given place automatcally has faculties to hear Confessions in every Catholic Church in that place, unless a local bishop has specifically excluded him, by name and in writing. Vatican II settled that one."
I don't think that's technically correct because of overlapping jurisdictions. For example, the abbot of a monastery has jurisdiction over the monastery itself, even though it is located within another diocese. The bishop of the diocese has jurisdiction outside of the grounds of the monastery but not within it.
Again, this is not a problem for you. If there is any issue, it would be with the priests. Bishops routinely work such things out and there are rarely any problems. So as I said before, no worries.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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brian
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Posted: Tue Nov 6th, 2007 11:51 pm |
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| The priest does not give penance, and different than what I had been told in the past, I have learned that a priest is not required in the East or West to give penance. Someone once told me that if one were failed to be given a penance, he should make up his own, but I do not think that this is strictly necessary, but maybe highly suggested.
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brian
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Posted: Thu Nov 8th, 2007 02:21 am |
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I may have misquoted my first point confusing it with a section on confirmation. This is from the same document possibly now refering to confession.
16. Owing to the fact that the faithful of the different individual churches dwell intermingled with each other in the same area or Eastern territory, the faculties for hearing confessions duly and without restriction given to priests of any rite by their own hierarchs extend to the whole territory of him who grants them and also to the places and faithful of any other rite in the same territory, unless the hierarch of the place has expressly excluded this for places of his rite.(20)
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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Nov 8th, 2007 09:14 am |
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brian wrote: I may have misquoted my first point confusing it with a section on confirmation. This is from the same document possibly now refering to confession.
16. Owing to the fact that the faithful of the different individual churches dwell intermingled with each other in the same area or Eastern territory, the faculties for hearing confessions duly and without restriction given to priests of any rite by their own hierarchs extend to the whole territory of him who grants them and also to the places and faithful of any other rite in the same territory, unless the hierarch of the place has expressly excluded this for places of his rite.(20)
Exactly, Brian. As I indicated, any priest has faculties in either rite as long as both bishops allow it. As a Byzantine priest, I cannot walk into a Latin Rite church and begin hearing confession if I have been forbidden to do so. It is rarely the case, and bishops would routinely allow it, but it is still up to the bishops.
Confirmation/Chrismation and other sacraments which impart an indelible character are different. They must be received in the person's own rite unless a good reason exists. The most common such situation is marriage between an Eastern Catholic and Latin Catholic. Confirmation/Chrismation is seldom allowed across rites, primarily because Eastern Catholics are normally fully initiated (including Chrismation) in infancy. It is rare for an Eastern Catholic to be baptized but not chrismated. Holy Orders is also not normally allowed across rites without a good reason (for example, a bishop of one rite may ordain a priest for a different rite, such as if the priest is studying in Rome) and priests are permitted to be bi-ritual, celebrating mass/Divine Liturgy in more than one rite.
Permission of the ordinaries involved is always required, but such permission is routinely assumed and granted unless there are specific reasons to deny it. And again, as long as there is a valid reason, such denials are extremely rare.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Nov 8th, 2007 10:29 pm |
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brian wrote: Does you answer differ from the answer I was given here regarding i permission is needed, or if it is ok so long as permission is not denied? or are you saying the same thing?
"But meanwhile, please note that every priest who has "faculties" to hear Confessions in a given place automatcally has faculties to hear Confessions in every Catholic Church in that place, unless a local bishop has specifically excluded him, by name and in writing. Vatican II settled that one."
I found the other forum you were cross-posting to/from. Brian, and I assure you we were saying the same thing. I also understand better (from reading the other thread) just where you were coming from, and I may have misled you in my answer. It was not my intention to express that any priest with faculties would be forbidden from hearing confessions in the church of another rite, just that he would have the courtesy to request permission if he were not invited.
Also, given the physical size of some of the Eastern eparchies, it is quite possible that an Eastern priest might not be known to his Latin counterpart, and so the Latin pastor would have an obligation to his congregation to verify the legitimacy of the Eastern priest's orders. Any priest can walk into any Catholic church to say mass/Divine Liturgy, but the pastor must verify his legitimacy before permitting a public celebration. Otherwise, an imposter or a laicized/excommunicated priest could say mass illicitly. So there are legalities involved in certain circumstances, even though a priest has faculties to administer sacraments in a given area. That's what I was talking about.
A priest of any rite may hear confession in any Catholic Church and give absolution to any Catholic, and any Catholic can receive the sacraments from any Catholic priest. But no priest of any rite would walk into any church other than his own and start hearing confessions unannounced, even if he has the technical faculties to do so. I don't believe the regulations invision such an "invasion" but take into consideration the fact that any priest would be invited/allowed into another parish church to administer sacraments, and would be expected to have the courtesy to inform the pastor before setting up shop.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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