Stipends and Sacraments

Posted on November 7, 2013 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q1: I’m going to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding… she and her fiancé met with the pastor to discuss the wedding preparations, and he insisted they have to pay the parish a hefty sum in order to get married there.  They were horrified, because it feels like the priest is blackmailing them, if they don’t pay it, they can’t get married!  Can a priest actually charge fees for marrying people?  –Caitlin

Q2: My elderly mother mailed a check to [some missionary priests] and asked them to celebrate a Mass for my late father.  They returned the check and told her that the “suggested offering” for a Mass is more than she wrote the check for.  I don’t see why, if it’s just an “offering,” and the amount is “suggested,” they refused to take what she sent them.  What if somebody wants to request a Mass but really can’t afford the suggested offering, aren’t they required to say the Mass anyway? –David Continue reading →

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Is Every Catholic Church a Parish?

Posted on October 24, 2013 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q:  My wife, preschool son and I regularly attend Sunday Mass at the Shrine of –.  My wife and I also go to confession there regularly.

Our son will be starting school next year… we discovered that there is no CCD of any kind being provided.  The priest told my wife that instead, we have to take our son to St. – Church for Sunday School and First Confession/Communion preparation.  We were flabbergasted!  There aren’t many children who regularly attend Mass at the Shrine, it’s true.  But aren’t they still required to provide religious instruction for the ones who do, instead of pawning the responsibility off on another church?  –Steve Continue reading →

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Why is a Catholic Permitted to Marry in an Orthodox Ceremony?

Posted on October 10, 2013 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: My sister stopped practicing her faith, and married a Greek Orthodox man in his church in Greece.  Now their marriage has ended, and she has returned to the Church.  She might want to remarry…. We both assumed that she could easily get an annulment, because she wasn’t married in a Catholic ceremony, and so her first marriage wasn’t valid.  But her parish priest is insisting that it was!  He says if she wants an annulment, she has to “find other grounds.”  What is the best way to resolve this, should she join a different parish, or try to reach the bishop himself?  —Emma

A: Emma’s confusion is completely understandable.  She knows that when Catholics marry, they are required to observe canonical form, which means that the parties must marry before the bishop, the pastor of the parish, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them (c. 1108).  Continue reading →

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What Can (and Can’t) a Deacon Do?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q:  We have a permanent deacon at our parish.  Some of us are wondering if the pastor sometimes allows him to do things that he’s not supposed to do… for example, occasionally the deacon preaches a homily at Sunday Mass instead of the priest.  Is that permissible?  What are the limits of what a deacon can do?  —Jay

A:  It’s a good question!  Lay Catholics generally understand that because a deacon is not a priest, there are some sacramental/liturgical actions which he cannot perform.  But occasionally the laity are taken aback when they see a deacon engaged in some sort of ministerial activity which they thought only a priest could do.  Continue reading →

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Why is Philomena No Longer Considered a Saint?

Posted on September 12, 2013 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: How is it that the martyr Philomena used to be a saint, but isn’t any more?  I don’t understand how the Church can canonize a saint and then change its mind…  –Mary

A: Philomena is not, and has never been a saint.

Many Catholics erroneously believe that Philomena used to be a saint, and was somehow “decanonized” by Pope John XXIII in 1961.  In fact, the action taken that year by the Congregation of Rites—which back then had jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the canonization of saints—actually clarified and made more consistent the canonical status of the person commonly known as “Saint Philomena,” which up to that point had been quite confused.  Continue reading →

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