Confession by Appointment and Face-to-Face

Posted on October 29, 2009 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q1: We just moved, and our new parish doesn’t have set confession times. The bulletin says “confessions by appointment.” My wife doesn’t think that’s a violation of our right to receive the sacrament, since the priest will hear our confessions if we ask him to. But it seems to me that it ought to be easier to go to confession than that. Which of us is right? –Chuck

Q2: Does canon law say anything about face-to-face confessionals? Our new pastor had the grills inside the confessionals removed, because he says he doesn’t like “anonymity” and thinks people should be adult enough to confess face-to-face. But now lots of people, including me, don’t want to go to confession! Is there something wrong with us not wanting to be seen in there? –Neal Continue reading →

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What if the Other Spouse Doesn’t Want the Annulment?

Posted on October 15, 2009 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: I read Sheila Kennedy’s book about her annulment experience, and it sure sounds like the Boston archdiocese put her through hell! I heard later that she appealed to the Vatican and they overturned the annulment her husband had got from Boston. It seems pretty obvious that the Boston canon lawyers tried to give her husband an annulment just because he’s a Kennedy. Don’t you think it’s scandalous that the Church treated her this way? –Stephanie

A: The former wife of Joseph Kennedy II did indeed write a book castigating the Catholic Church in general, and the marriage tribunal of the Archdiocese of Boston in particular, after her ex-husband sought an annulment of their marriage. Continue reading →

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How Soon Should a Baby be Baptized?

Posted on October 1, 2009 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: Our new next-door neighbors have a 14-month-old daughter. They’re Catholics, but I just found out that they still haven’t had their daughter baptized yet! When our own children were born over 30 years ago, we had them baptized when they were just a couple of weeks old. Aren’t you required to have your children baptized quickly like that any more? –Frances

A: The Church’s teaching on the necessity of baptism for salvation has not changed. Christ Himself, after His Resurrection, couldn’t have spoken more clearly about the need for baptism, when He commanded the Apostles to go forth and baptize all nations (Matt. 28: 19-20). Continue reading →

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Clergy and Summer Vacation

Posted on July 23, 2009 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: Our pastor seems to go on vacation constantly. This year, he already spent one week at a retreat house, left on numerous short trips to see his relatives, and now he’s going away for two weeks to Florida—and it’s only July!  Doesn’t a pastor of a parish have the obligation to spend his time working at the parish rather than constantly taking these trips?  –Lucas

A:  No.

For starters, the Code of Canon Law makes a sharp distinction between a cleric’s spiritual retreat, and his vacation. Clergy are obliged to go on retreat on a regular basis, as determined by their diocesan bishop (c. 276.2 n. 4). As we saw in “Who May Preach?” the term “cleric” pertains not only to priests, but to deacons as well—so this requirement ordinarily binds them too.  Continue reading →

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Notre Dame, Obama, and the Bishop’s Authority

Posted on July 9, 2009 by canonlawmadeeasy

Q: We all know that the bishop of the diocese where the University of Notre Dame is located wouldn’t go to graduation  in 2009 because President Obama was coming. But why didn’t he simply forbid the school to allow Obama to come? If UND is in his diocese, doesn’t he have the authority to step in if they do something scandalous like this?  –Melissa

A: Notre Dame University, which is located within the territory of the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, is run by the Holy Cross Fathers, a clerical religious institute.  As virtually every Catholic in this country already knows, the decision to invite President Obama to the school’s 2009 graduation ceremony, where he received an honorary degree, was ultimately made by Notre Dame’s president, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins—who therefore could presumably have later rescinded the invitation if he had chosen to do so.  Continue reading →

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