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Category Archives: Crimes and Sanctions
Besides the Priest, Who Else is Bound by the Seal of Confession?
Q: There’s a priest from [a third-world country] in residence in my parish…. In the confessional he didn’t want to give me absolution. He said he didn’t know if I had sinned, since maybe I had done these things by … Continue reading
Posted in Confession, Crimes and Sanctions, Parish Life
Tagged canon law, Catholic, confession, sacramental seal
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Divorce, Remarriage, and Excommunication
Q: My coworker is Episcopalian, but I discovered she was baptized Catholic, and her whole family left the Church when she was small. She said they became Episcopalians because her mother got divorced and then remarried outside the Church, and … Continue reading
Posted in Crimes and Sanctions, Marriage
Tagged canon law, Catholic, divorce, excommunication, remarriage
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Excommunication and the Authority of the Parish Priest
Q: What course do parishioners have to ask the bishop to correct, reprimand or otherwise relocate a priest who refuses to baptize children of parents that he doesn’t “recognize” as parishioners, even though they are on the parish roll? He … Continue reading
Posted in Baptism, Catholic Education, Clergy Issues, Crimes and Sanctions, Holy Mass, Parish Life, Rights of the Faithful
Tagged canon law, Catholic, excommunication, pastor
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Are SSPX Sacraments Valid? Part I
Q: What’s the canonical status of priests ordained by SSPX bishops, and what’s the canonical status of the sacraments they administer? –John A: It would have been marvelous to be able to respond to John that the priests of the … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Crimes and Sanctions, Sacraments
Tagged canon law, Catholic, sacraments, SSPX, validity
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Women’s Ordination and the Case of Roy Bourgeois
Q: I’m trying to figure out what is really going on in the case of Fr. Bourgeois, who was kicked out of the Maryknolls last year. The stories I read suggested that he was excommunicated and is no longer a … Continue reading
Posted in Clergy Issues, Crimes and Sanctions
Tagged canon law, Catholic, excommunication, laicization, Maryknoll, Roy Bourgeois
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