Joysong:
Dear Jonah,
Have you actually seen them together regularly? Do you know for an absolute fact that what your friend says is true? The reason I write this is due to having posted a thread just recently about a priest/saint who was falsely calumniated for having an affair with a woman and allegedly had a child through her. You may want to do a search: St. Gerard, Patron of those falsely accused.
Some women fantacize due to unhealthy mental states, and find special delight in being the favorites of priests. They are promiscuous in trying to attract the priest to themselves, and glory in being able to capture the heart of one who is consecrated.
What “sin” is it that the priest is forgiving in her case? The attachment of their hearts? Or the attachment of their bodies? Big difference, but I suspect that since you used the word affair, it is a commonly understood term in our culture that means a sexual involvement.
Carole
I too was thinking along the same lines as Carole on this. I have known some people who are a little messed up in the head to talk about sexual affairs that aren’t happening (maybe wishful thinking on the part of the person). This could have such serious consequences for a priest, who may actually be fully innocent. Therefore, great care and prudence needs to be taken. Personally, I believe the friend needs to be confronted, with charity, but with firm conviction of what is right and wrong. But, there is a way to check out our obligations in such cases.
If a friend of mine told me that she was having sexual relations with a priest and she claimed that same priest was “forgiving her sins” for the relations, I would take one of two approaches.
- I would talk to my own priest, in confession, and tell him what my friend has told me to find out if there are any obligations on my part. Does the priest feel I am guilty of omission in not confronting her (maybe a good application of when we should provide “counsel”) . Does the priest feel I should report it to the bishop?
- Ask to speak directly to the bishop on the phone, without revealing my name or the name of those involved and explain the scenario. Then, once again, find out if he feels you are obligated in any way to say anything, or to encourage them to end it. If this priest is forgiving her sins, it does sound like he has incurred latae sententiae, which is automatic excommunication. Here is some limited explanation, differentiating.:
An excommunication is the heaviest spiritual sanction the Church can render. So long as it is in force, it bars the excommunicated person from the church community and from receiving most of the sacraments, as well as from all public associations affiliated with the Church. An automatic (or “
latae sententiae”) excommunication is an especially severe penalty. The nine or so
latae sententiae excommunications in the Code are reserved for use against certain things the Church particularly wants to deter, like assaulting the pope (can.1370) and priests divulging matters heard in the confessional (can.1388). Most excommunications can only follow a tribunal trial (can. 1425, §1, 2°). But
latae sententiae penalties operate like a bill of attainder in that there is no “process” for their imposition–the fact that the person voluntarily performed the proscribed act, in the absence of some exception provided in the law, means the penalty is incurred. An excommunication can usually be lifted by the local bishop (the “local ordinary”) and sometimes by a priest during confession (can. 1354-1357).
Source: http://members.aol.com/abtrbng/canonl.htm
