About the seal of confession

[YoungTradCath]

I watched mass today on EWTN. The celebrant mentioned in his homily a friend who began his confession with, “Forgive me Father, for I am a sinner.” He was comparing that to the usual way of beginning confession. He said that he had “permission” from his friend to say during his homily how he begins confession. Is this breaking the seal of confession? Or since what the celebrant mentioned had nothing to do with the confession of sins themselves, was this alright? I was rather appalled nonetheless.

 

[Trishie]

You are correct, though some reading I just did affirms that the priest may not mention as a quote, even that line unless the penitent had given permission, known as the phrase may be.

Can. 983 §1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.

“**A Decree from the Holy Office” (Nov. 18, 1682) mandated that confessors are forbidden, even where there would be no revelation direct or indirect, to make any use of the knowledge obtained in the confession that would “displease” the penitent or reveal his identity.

Therefore, from the time a person makes the sign of the cross and begins “Bless me father for I have sinned” to the last words of absolution, the information exchanged between the priest and the penitent is protected by the sacramental seal. Even if a confession is made in a less formal atmosphere or in a less formal way, if a priest imparts absolution, what he absolves is under the sacramental seal never to be revealed by him.**"

If the priest had obtained the permission of the penitent, he was in obedience with Canon Law in any case.

 

[Trishie]

Sorry about the delay, but have been giving my husband a coffee and a snack, it being afternoon here.
The link I obtained that information from was catholicexchange.com/2001/08/22/80141/ Hopefully this is a reliable source, but I’ll keep looking.
Regarding the permission of the penitent, I feel I need to provide a source as it is an important aspect of your question and concern

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) …decreed, “Let the confessor take absolute care not to betray the sinner through word or sign, or in any other way whatsoever. In case he needs expert advice he may seek it without, however, in any way indicating the person. For we decree that he who presumes to reveal a sin which has been manifested to him in the tribunal of penance is not only to be deposed from the priestly office, but also to be consigned to a closed monastery for perpetual penance.” catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0059.html

"However, a priest may ask the penitent for a release from the sacramental seal to discuss the confession with the person himself or others. For instance, if the penitent wants to discuss the subject matter of a previous confession — a particular sin, fault, temptation, circumstance — in a counseling session or in a conversation with the same priest, that priest will need the permission of the penitent to do so. catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0059.html The Seal of the Confessional FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS

 

[FrDavid96]

I watched mass today on EWTN. The celebrant mentioned in his homily a friend who began his confession with, “Forgive me Father, for I am a sinner.” He was comparing that to the usual way of beginning confession. He said that he had “permission” from his friend to say during his homily how he begins confession. Is this breaking the seal of confession? Or since what the celebrant mentioned had nothing to do with the confession of sins themselves, was this alright? I was rather appalled nonetheless.

I did not see the broadcast, so I want to say that my response here is limited to what you wrote above.

There is no problem with what you described. There was no violation of the Seal.

Ask yourself a few questions:

1. Who was confessing?
2. What was the sin confessed?
3. Is the penitent harmed in any way by this “revelation”?
4. Did the penitent freely release the priest to say what he said?

As I read what you describe, here’s what I come up with:

1. Unknown
2. Unknown
3. No
4. Yes (it does seem so, from what you describe).

There’s no problem here. None whatsoever.

A priest-confessor cannot reveal anything he has learned in Confession. That’s an absolute. However, given what was said, there was really nothing material revealed here. No one listening has any idea who the priest is talking about or what actually happened in confession. We all know (from the rite itself) that the penitent begins confession by saying something like “bless me Father, for I have sinned…” Everyone does that, in one form or another. Therefore there’s nothing even remotely confidential about the fact that a particular penitent does this. It’s like the priest saying “I imparted absolution in confession” (without saying anything more). Of course he did, that’s what happens in confession–it’s hardly a secret.

When it comes down to it, the priest was not really discussing anyone’s particular confession, but he was rather discussing the rite itself. That’s printed in books for anyone to read, so there’s no harm.

I was the proper and polite thing to do for the priest to ask permission before sharing this in public; yet, even if he did not have that permission, he would still not be breaking the Seal. Keep in mind the reasons here: because nothing was revealed about the particular penitent, nor about any particular sin. The only thing “revealed” was a particular word-choice for what the Rite itself describes.

Once again, based strictly on what you wrote: there was nothing wrong here, so be at ease about this.

 

[YoungTradCath]

^^ I suppose this makes sense.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

A couple of months ago I told the priest I have a hearing problem and have to catch on to what is being said. He noted that and then said “Before we start your confession, can you hear my homilies okay.” I can and told him what he did that helped. Then he said, " Okay, now we will start your confession." That puzzled me a bit. It was the next day before I realized that he was being ultra cautious to be sure we both knew what was and what was not under the seal.

 

[opus101]

I watched mass today on EWTN. The celebrant mentioned in his homily a friend who began his confession with, “Forgive me Father, for I am a sinner.” He was comparing that to the usual way of beginning confession. He said that he had “permission” from his friend to say during his homily how he begins confession. Is this breaking the seal of confession? Or since what the celebrant mentioned had nothing to do with the confession of sins themselves, was this alright? I was rather appalled nonetheless.

Even though it was evidently okay for the priest to say this (from what others have said), I always dislike it when I hear things like this because it can weaken people’s confidence in the seal. I mean, was it really necessary for him to mention the fact that the penitent was “a friend”, or the fact that it was an actual occurence to begin with? He could have made his point without mentioning any of that.