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Category Archives: Clergy Issues
Invalid Baptisms and Unaccountable Clergy
Q1: We’re from Michigan, and the invalid baptism of Father Matthew Hood in the Detroit Archdiocese is all over the Catholic news … lots of people are now wondering if their children were invalidly baptized too, or even if their … Continue reading
Posted in Baptism, Clergy Issues, Sacraments
Tagged baptism, baptize, deacon, Fr. Hood, invalid, validity
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When Can a Pastor be Removed From Office?
Q: In this article you mentioned in passing that a bishop can’t remove the pastor of a parish just because the pastor does something the bishop doesn’t like. Can you elaborate? I ask because in Wales a pastor was castigated … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Crimes and Sanctions, Parish Life
Tagged canon law, Catholic, ecclesiastical office, parish, parish priest, pastor
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Can the Bishop Cancel Our Annual Parish Fundraiser, Because of the Virus?
Q: A recent discussion with a Protestant friend led me to do some research, and when I visited your website, I saw the many questions about the withholding of Sacraments from the faithful during COVID-19. I was absolutely shocked to … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Parish Life
Tagged bishop, canon law, Catholic, fundraiser, parish, virus
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Did the Spanish Flu of 1918 Create a Precedent for Closing Churches and Cancelling Masses Today?
Q: A priest in residence at my parish is defending the bishop’s decision to lock all the churches indefinitely … claiming that there is canonical precedent for doing this. He says the same thing was done during the Spanish Flu … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Holy Mass, Parish Life, Rights of the Faithful, Sacraments, The Eucharist
Tagged 1918, bishops, canon law, Catholic, churches, Mass, Spanish Flu, virus
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Episcopal Conferences and Communion on the Tongue
Q1: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued guidelines saying that we have the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, despite the virus … but my bishop has ordered all his priests to do the exact opposite. He … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Rights of the Faithful, Sacraments, The Eucharist
Tagged bishops' conference, canon law, Catholic, Communion on the tongue, episcopal conference
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