1. The priest concerned will bring this matter to the attention of the local ordinary. Do not underestimate the difficulty that faces him.
2. It is a shame that young clergy who are happy to live in obedience to their Bishop and cultivating a solid interior life have to face these problems.
One of the highest pastoral priorities for me as a Priest is helping people to receive God’s forgiveness in Confession or Reconciliation. Hearing Confessions can be demanding and tiring, but I love this sacrament – both as minister and penitent.
I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if, through laziness, I denied the people their right to encounter the mercy of God through this sacrament. It’s one of the main reasons why I became a Priest. I could even say that it’s what I live for!
A lot of my preaching and pastoral work is done with the hope of helping people to feel welcome and encouraged – so that they can meet Christ in Reconciliation and be forgiven.
I like to think that I go the extra mile in putting up with people being difficult with me, remembering that I am an ambassador for Christ, who makes the appeal through me, “Be reconciled to God!”
I always wear clerical dress so that I am available for people. I find that I have many encounters of reconciliation – in different ways – as I travel about.
My experience teaches me that in coming to Confession people feel a sense of relief. Especially if they are able to go to Confession anonymously, they are able to broach difficult areas of their lives in safety. So, even with its demands and difficulties for people, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a hugely pastoral sacrament. This sacrament, when it celebrated as the Church intends, gives Priests the best opportunity of reaching out to the lost sheep, being available for them.
I’m a Priest working in England. Recently we have been discussing the problem of the breakdown of marriage and family life among Catholics.
In the sacrament of Confession people of all ages are enabled to come and find Christ’s forgiveness and have the advice that will help them to keep their lives on the right track.
Young people who are undergoing temptations can come and receive the guidance which will help them to keep their lives on the right foundations. Very often I have been able in the sacrament of Reconciliation to encourage young people to confide in their parents or to avoid destructive and unwise patterns of behaviour. I could write pages along these lines – but I think that in no other area of my ministry have I been able to do more to help young people to prepare for happy marriages in the future.
So if we want to know how to help Marriage and Family life, the correct celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a good place to begin.
I’ve spent the whole of Lent – in the homilies I’ve given – trying to help people prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The reason I’m writing all this is because my Parish Priest has just informed me that he plans to do ‘general absolution or something like that…’ at the Penitential Service this evening. I don’t want to speak more about the details of this situation. It's not my place to judge my Parish Priest. He is a kind man who has done his best to encourage and make me welcome in my appointment.
But I don’t think he or others have the slightest idea how upset I and other Priests feel about the ways in which the sacrament of Reconciliation is undermined.
It’s very hard for Parish Priests who find that their parishioners – whose Confessions they offer to hear – disappear to a neighbouring parish where some sort of easy, but illicit (if not invalid) form of the sacrament is taking place.
I’m not a cry-baby, but this morning I burst into tears of frustration at what is being done to me and to the people. What is really happening is that they are being sent away with something which is easy, but not satisfying. They have asked for bread…
Of course, the people can go to Confession in the normal way somewhere else, but many of them probably won’t. They trust Father. And with our fallen condition we are always tempted to do what is easy, especially when someone in authority has said it is all right.
I suppose it may seem to some people that I’m just being bolshy in declining to have anything to do with tonight’s proceedings. Perhaps it seems as if I’ve got a 'legal' approach to ministry.
And in a certain way I do. Sometimes we do have to obey. The fact that recent Popes (even recently in Sacramentum Caritatis) have repeatedly reminded us that we need to help people to make an integral Confession seems a good reason not to water down the sacrament.
But there is more to it than that. What is really happening is that I am being denied the chance to exercise a very important part of my Priestly ministry.
It’s not that there is a shortage of Priests. The offer of finding enough Priests for this evening (and on other occasions in other parishes) was declined.
It’s not the first time this has happened to me. In one parish where I worked the people were encouraged to ‘confess one sin’. Personally I think this ‘rite two and a half’ (as it is commonly referred to by the clergy) is even more damaging than general absolution. It is certainly just as frequently done here in England.
In another parish where I worked the Priests gave individual absolution without the penitent confessing anything. This, too seems to be quite frequently done.
The result is that in the Deanery where I am now working, out of the small number of people who go to Reconciliation at all this week, probably only a third or a quarter will receive the sacrament in the way the Church intends.
Last year, during the time the reconciliation service was going on, was a very demoralizing time for me. It didn’t seem right to stay in the parish. I would have seemed to be a sign of contradiction – and I try to be loyal to the Priests I work with. I was (like this year) given very little notice of what was going to happen at the Reconciliation service. My friends were all busy or unavailable, so I walked around the streets to kill the time.
All of this reminds us that it’s good for us to pray for our Priests and for the Bishops!
May the Lord grant us always shepherds who will walk in his ways and whose watchful care will bring us his blessing. (Collect for the election of a Bishop)
23 comments:
My heart goes out to this priest. Not a priest myself (obviously), yet as a recent convert who has embraced fully the orthodox Catholic faith, it is a great frustration to me to come in contact with priests in my state who are undermining the Sacraments, the liturgy, and the faith in such ways. (Call to Action seems to be the accepted organization around here.) There is nothing more that I want than to learn and live as a Catholic, to fully embrace this pearl of great price I have found... and it is heart breaking to see this trend. I constantly pray for vocations and for the priests and bishops as a result.
I hope this priest knows that there are people out there like me who would go out of their WAY to receive a proper confession. Don't be discouraged... continue to fight the good fight... My prayers are with you.
A very sad story. I pray for this good young priest and others like him. I pray, too, for his misguided PP and for the parishioners who are being given a false and inadequate formation in the Sacrament of Penance.
Some years ago, the Holy Father, as Cardinal, predicted a smaller but better-formed Church. Despite this type of problem, I remain convinced that he was right and that the future will be better - the old die-hards will have gone to their eternal reward and the Church will be left with a (probably much smaller in number) band of loyal priets and faithful. From those priests will necessarily come the bishops; with good, solid bishops, we have the opportunity for growth in truth. I fear it will be a hard slog and demoralising at times. But "the gates of hell will not prevail..."
Thank you for publishing this very moving account. I will pray for the writer who states so eloquently and sensitively the tragedy of how the flock is being led astray. Sadly it seems crosses such priests as this writer have to bare are those inflicted from within the church. Two thoughts come particularly to mind after reading his account. "Wolves in sheep's clothing"....so often these 'alternatives' are presented with the face of compassion whilst what is truly behind them is the opposite........Secondly, the Devil is still at work and aims his strike where he (as the most cunning of intellects) knows greatest harm can be done - at priests and preventing people receiving the grace of the sacraments. The Church in her wisdom has the notion of 'discipline' of the sacraments - the need for regulation. If only a greater sense of the obligations of Bishops to fulfil this role could be restored how better things would be. The wisdom of the saints teaches that humility is the greatest defence against Satan. All these variations on avoiding simple adherence to Church guidance always appear with a conceitedness about them…a 'we know better what the people need'. I hope it is at least small comfort to this priest for him to know that others 'out there' agree totally with his sentiments and are with him in prayer.
My heart just goes out to that poor priest! He obviously loves his priesthood, the Church and his people. What a wonderful priest he must be! And how sad that such deep love for the sacraments is pained.
I will pray for him that he doesn't get despondent.
God has evidently touched that priest in a beautiful and deep way. If every diocese had priests like that there would be no "vocations crisis" and Churches and confessionals would be packed.
Let's pray that those in authority who "permit" these abuses will fall in love with the sacraments and their priesthood!
Thanks Fr Tim for posting this. the good young Fr who has written should not be discouraged. Those parishioners who find themselves in a situation where a 'general' type of absolution is given or are told to 'confess one sin' or perhaps deliberately seek out such an 'easy' option, will inevitably feel the spiritual incompleteness and emptiness(that's the only way I can find to describe this) of such a 'confession'.
It will nag them in their conscience until they return to the confessional - may take days, weeks possibly years. I can speak from personal experience.
The Bishop should be informed - especially as offers to help from other priests were apparently declined. Such 'abuses' must not be allowed to take hold in the Church.
God Bless the young Fr and his obvious love for Our Blessed Lord, great devotion to the Church's teaching and this most important of Sacraments, because I cannot think of a more horrendous scenario on earth than there not being a means for personal reconciliation with God.
What a wonderful priest, God Bless him and his work.
A few years ago at a local parish we celebrated the Divine Chaplet and on the last Sunday of the Novena we had a service which was attended by hundreds of people, confession was available but still the crowds were so large that Father suggested a general absolution where you could confess one sin (it's actually quite hard to decide which sin is most appropriate), so as the indulgence could be gained. He did however say that at the first opportunity we would still have to go to private confession.
Father also said he would have to notify the Bishop of this occurence.
Is what happened at this parish acceptable (according to Cannon Law)?
Praise be to God that Father is so faithful and understand so well the need for confession. But he is in a difficult position on this and only the laity can speak. I did write to my bishoop over individual absolution beign given with sins being confessed but I was told it was broadly in line with guidelines. I am particulary interested in young people trying to lead chaste lives and the need they have for confession by a priest who understands. If priests just dismiss sin, and some do even in the confessional, young people can receive no help. As Father says there is more than just the forgiving of sin, there is the spiritual direction, the counselling, the encouragement to keep in the fight. There is also the scandal that priests reduce their faculties to some sort of magical power. God bless you Father, be assured of our prayers.
Fr. Tim,
I worked in the UK for several years and used to live in the Diocese of Portsmouth. All I can do in response to this sad story is to refer everyone to your previous posting about the instruction to priests issued by my former bishop, Crispian Hollis, forbidding the practice of giving general absolution at penitential services:
I made a slightly sarcastic comment about his instruction at the time, but on this occasion Crispian Hollis was correct, and fully justified in clamping down: Church teaching is explicit that general absolution is only for life-or-death situations and emergencies—it can never become workaday pastoral practice, and must be followed up wherever possible by individual confession.
The young priest who e-mailed you can at least say to his own bishop, “Even Hollis has banned this, for heaven’s sake,” if the bishop in question is otherwise one of the many members of the English episcopate who are “Vatican-sceptic” (to coin a phrase) and tend to take the rulebook and the monsignori with a pinch of salt.
Hmm..what to do. I'd say report it to the Bishop, his reputation needs to be protected and maybe that is why he put the young priest there.
The young priest has to remember that many of the priests in seminary during the early 1970s got a very poor formation indeed. The orthodox were routinely routed out.
Perhaps the young priest should go to his own confessor or spiritual advisor and find a way to deal emotionally with this.
If the general absolution is illicit, perhaps a direct confronatation armed with facts, canons and Episcopal directives is in order.
Father, are these types of "confession" valid? If the situation does not meet the guidelines for general absolution (which I thought still required individual confession after the danger has passed) is the absolution valid? What if someone in mortal sin thinks he has been absolved in a general absolution and then dies? Is the priest responsible for damning a soul?
How can some priests abuse the sacraments and not feel any remorse about it?
I am sure that this is a very frustrating situation for the young priest.
However if he asks God what His will is for him in this situation the answer must be to obey those set over him without hesitation or reluctance regardless of whether he agrees with them or not.
The same answer applies to all of us of course!
Funny thing is, when I was a kid the problem was the young curate introducing all sorts of "Spirit of Vatican II" innovations when the parish priest was on retreat (that generation didn't take holidays)
How times change. Fortunately, owing to a shortage of vocations, these young priests of today will soon have their own parish and as Fr Holloway demonstrated, such priests can really make a difference with future vocation numbers.
Perhaps the trendies really do have a point when they bang on about the vocation shortage being the "will of the Holy Spirit" although not quite in the way they envisaged.
The Holy Spirit I suspect, rather than sending so many young men to be mal-formed in the "interesting" seminaries of the 70s and 80s and therefore damage the Church further, seems instead to have chosen a small number of determined young men to become "catholic seminarians" and encouraged most of the rest to instead marry and have several children, and by the time the children grow up seminaries are vastly improved.....
Is general absolution valid if the penitent doesn't intend to confess auricularly and integrally to a priest?
Honest question, I am no canonist.
"Can. 962 §1. For a member of the Christian faithful validly to receive sacramental absolution given to many at one time, it is required not only that the person is properly disposed but also at the same time intends to confess within a suitable period of time each grave sin which at the present time cannot be so confessed.
"§2. Insofar as it can be done even on the occasion of the reception of general absolution, the Christian faithful are to be instructed about the requirements of the norm of §1. An exhortation that each person take care to make an act of contrition is to precede general absolution even in the case of danger of death, if there is time."
Thank you all for your comments - I will draw the young priest's attention to them and I am sure they will be a consolation to him.
Is it valid?
I made some relevant comments on this matter in the post Confession Lite which may be helpful. In the case of a mortal sin, the penitent is obliged to confess the sin in auricular confession before receiving General Absolution again. He is also obliged to confess the sin within the year as part of the usual "Easter Duties." But if the penitent received absolution in good faith, it would be valid and he could go to Holy Communion.
However if he asks God what His will is for him in this situation the answer must be to obey those set over him without hesitation or reluctance regardless of whether he agrees with them or not.
St Thomas deals with this question in the Summa Theologica 2a 2ae q.104 art.5 and teaches that "sometimes the things commanded by a superior are against God. Therefore superiors are not to be obeyed in all things." General Absolution, given illicitly is against God because it is directly contrary to the teaching of the Church. So the young priest not only may disobey the parish priest, he should disobey him in this matter.
Furthermore, an assistant priest does not take a vow of obedience to the Parish Priest. His obedience is that described by St Thomas when he said "a subject is bound to obey his superior within the sphere of his authority." So he does not have to obey the Parish Priest "in all that is not sin" but only in those matters which come under the authority of the Parish Priest.
Fr. Tim,
don't go to any extra trouble, but should you be in contact with this priest again, would you pass on a message from me? Please give him my thanks for his devotion to his vocation and his care for us and our salvation, and assure him of my prayers for him - especially in this situation. Thanks!
Without checking up other commentaries, I wonder if it would be more correct to consider the person who in good faith accepts general absolution not to be denied the grace of forgiveness, but not by virtue of the absolution received, rather by virtue of his ignorance and the illicit actions of the priest not being held against him. Therefore I would say the absolution is invalid, but the person can consider himself having been forgiven and able to receive Holy Communion. The conditions for valid absolution are simply not there, namely danger of death or grave necessity, and the intention to have recourse to confession at the earliest opportunity.
Just as if a priest did not intend to consecrate, a person who received 'hosts' at his mass would not have received the Sacrament of Holy Communion but would not be deprived of any of the graces that a valid communion would have brought.
In this matter, sifractusfortis, I don't think the priest is obliged to obey. He is obliged by a higher law. He may therefore quite properly refuse to co-operate in the dispensing of general absolution.
As regards the Divine Mercy occasion, this was not a licit use of general absolution. Confession is not about gaining indulgences but obtaining the forgiveness of sins. General absolution is specifically forbidden on the occasions of the coming together of large groups of people such as on a pilgrimages.
Can. 961 #1 n.2: "A sufficient necessity (for general absolution) is not, however, considered to exist when confessors cannot be available merely becuase of a great gathering of the penitents, such as can occur on some major feastday or pilgrimage."
How reassuring for the priest in question to have received such supportive comments.
Many thanks for that clarification, John. Do you think that the question of jurisdiction arises here? If the Church lays down certain conditions for General Absolution, would a priest actually have the required faculty to give absolution if those conditions were not fulfilled?
The agony in this poor priest's plea is absolutely palpable! I am in tears!
I am a woman (my nom-de-plum does not make this apparent), and blessed with a wonderful mother the likes of St. Monica; she taught us long ago that "general absolution" was generally illicit and that we should not recieve it unless we were quite literally about to die. She really emphasized the Sacrament of Confession.
So even in my rebellion against God and the Church, I NEVER considered attending a general absolution service, knowing that I would not be forgiven. I did not intend to go to a priest in that time, and this is what kept me away for so long; a GA would not have saved me in any way. Thank God he preserved me from such nonsense.
People who refuse to go to Confession or who are led astray but such "pastors" are done a great disservice and they most likely don't know any better. May God have mercy on them and have mercy mostly on the one who performs such a service. It is the offending priest's soul which is most at risk and he will suffer great agony when the Lord shows him what he has done. Pray he does not have to suffer such agony for eternity.
We are all sinners...to be deprived of true absolution is simply...words fail me... (that never happens..)
My sincerest and deepest prayers go up for the priest who wrote to you. May we have many more like him!
Tim: I'm not sure jurisdiction or loss of faculty comes into it. If my way of looking at things is the case (which it may not be) I would consider it an illicit use of the faculty in this case rendering the act invalid (due to the required conditions for valid use not being present.) The existence or otherwise of danger of death or grave necessity is always a matter of judgement, and where there is doubt of fact or doubt of law, the law can be dispensed or it does not apply, (Can. 14) but in the cases referred to in this post and combox, it's pretty clear the conditions are not there. There is no doubt, therefore the law applies (imho). But I could be wrong on this. Especially as laws are only invalidating when expressly stated. (Can. 10) But this is not just a canonical matter but a theological one.
There is also an exercise of governance in the administration of absolution. If someone is under censure, they could not be absolved through a general absolution (except in danger of death/grave necessity etc.)
Anyway, this is becoming more a thread about Canon Law of Penance than the priest who wrote to you.
Why am I not surprised. I will pray for this priest and those that like him, want the church to minister to its people by delivering the sacraments as they were intended.
Sadly, as from our experience the priests in our diocese are more interested in running businesses, doing away with real people involvement and acting like American pop idols. To us, it would seem that the church is not sure what it wants to be anymore.
We must pray that the Church, in this rampant secularist society will see that its people want and need spiritual guidance, both as a congregation and as an individual.
A a failure to meet the needs of just one individual, is to deny the teachings in the Gospels and what we believe to be the teachings of our faith.
It is about time all priests were made to live up to the following:
"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" John 6:35.
Please pray that in the coming Holy week, that this priest will gain strength and stamina to fight the good fight; we need good priests!. May God Bless him and keep him safe from all harm; and all those who support him.
Also, pray that those who do not or do not want to, will see the light and change their ways.
We are all wanting our spiritual needs met and spiritual life to be met and developed! How else can we make the world a better place for all!
A couple of years ago in St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, I was at Mass on one of the rose vestment Sundays. After the "greeting", the celebrant (of whose identity I am almost but not 101% certain at this remove) explained that priests would stand at the front of the sanctuary, and that we were encouraged to line up, express an area of difficulty in our lives to the priest, and receive absolution. I don't remember more of the details now. The readings were read as this was going on: I think the Kyrie was also sung as background music, but I am not sure. Nor do I remember whether the Gospel was read once everyone had returned to is seat. I do remember that I spoke to the celebrant afterwards, and was told that not only did the archbishop know about this, he had in fact started it on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
I then spoke to a friend who is/was a parishioner of the cathedral, and was told that this was standard practice on the "rose vestment" Sundays. I don't know if this is still the case.
I remember being particularly angry about the fact that people were misled into thinking that this was not just one of those General Absolution things, yet nothing was said about the fact that any grave sins must be confessed. So someone conscious of a grave sin, and that it should be confessed, would have left thinking he or she had fulfilled that obligation.
(there's some convoluted and dubious grammar up there, sorry)
Thank you, Fr Tim, for posting my worries about the Reconciliation service on your blog.
Thank you so much to everyone for the supportive comments and prayers, which are a great encouragement.
Unfortunately I’m not as much of a ‘wonderful Priest’ as some of the comments suggest! Hopefully some of the prayers which people are offering for my parish Priest will help him to put up with living with me!
Thank God, I have had the grace all through my life to know many excellent Priests and laypeople. In that way I’m able to hold onto and transmit the orthodox teaching I have received. Often it’s the case that my brother Priests and fellow Catholics (many of them good people) haven’t been so blessed.
It’s wonderful to be a Priest in these interesting times!
God bless,
anonymous recusant Priest :-)
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