An incedibly strange question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pugs216
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Pugs216

Guest
This is one of those relatively unimportant issues that for some reason got into my head one day and stuck for a few weeks, and I finally got the courage to ask. Please don’t laugh.

Ok, so say there’s this priest in the middle of a battlefield. What would happen if, by some incredibly unlucky chance, both his arms were crushed/blown up/cut off? How would he perform Mass? Does the Church even have anything written to deal with this?? Am I just crazy for thinking about it?
 
*celebrate Mass" would be a more appropriate term here, before you guys all jump on that. I know how nitpicky peole can be!
 
A priest must be able to physically perform the Mass. Surely there have been priests who suffered stroke, became quadripelegic, developed Alzheimer’s, etc, and so the Church surely has a protocol for dealing with it.

I wouldn’t say you are crazy for thinking about it, but your time pondering religious things would be better spent pondering things that benefit your soul…mysteries such as Christ’s sacrifice, the Trinity, Christ being both human and divine, sanctifying grace, etc.
 
Its not like I obsessed over it or anything, just one of those things that entered my mind repeatedly over a period of time… though yes, I (and everyone else on Earth) should spend more time contemplating things that further spiritual development. Thank you for your response
 
Pugs216 said:
Its not like I obsessed over it or anything, just one of those things that entered my mind repeatedly over a period of time… though yes, I (and everyone else on Earth) should spend more time contemplating things that further spiritual development. Thank you for your response
Click to expand...
Not a strange question at all. Think of all the comedians like George Carlin who have made up questions a lot worse than this. One of his popular ones is “Could God create a rock so heavy He Himself couldn’t lift it?” Now that is totally crazy.
 
I would say he wouldn’t be able to celebrate the Mass (distributing the Eucharist is a major hurdle), but he is still able to perform most of his duties. He can still administer Reconciliation and carry out his pastoral duties such as giving advice and heading parish projects. I’m sure that God will give him grace for not giving up and continuing his service for Him.
 
we had an elderly retired priest who spent a few months living in the rectory of our old parish. He was a missionary who had been tortured as a communist prisoner in I think Cambodia, or maybe Laos, and his hands were deformed so he could not hold anything. He could not even feed himself. He also had some mental health issues from his imprisonment. This was in the 70s when concelebration was becoming more common and he concelebrated with the pastor from time to time.

St. Isaac Jogue the Jesuit martyr had his thumbs and index finders removed by the Iroquois, the fingers used to hold the host, and was given a dispensation from the pope to use his other fingers.
 
It seems to me that he would not be able to perform baptisms, as that requires the lifting of water, confession would be no problem, he probably wouldn’t be elevated to the episcopacy, as ordinations require the laying on of hands, as do confirmations. As for the Eucharist, is it actually necessary to use one’s hands? Concelebration, or celebration with a deacon would otherwise be a logical option.

Oh well…off to contemplate something important! 😛
 
Spirithound said:
It? Concelebration, or celebration with a deacon would otherwise be a logical option.

Oh well…off to contemplate something important! 😛
Click to expand...
no the deacon may not do any action in confecting the Eucharist that is reserved to the priest. If the priest by injurity or incapacity is incapable of carrying out any of his duties, he is exempted from the obligation to do them and simply cannot do them.
 
puzzleannie said:
no the deacon may not do any action in confecting the Eucharist that is reserved to the priest. If the priest by injury or incapacity is incapable of carrying out any of his duties, he is exempted from the obligation to do them and simply cannot do them.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn’t express myself very clearly. I know (or should know anyways) that the deacon does not participate in the confection of the Eucharist…and yet, I can’t think of what I was thinking last night in posting this 😛
Thanks for the correction Annie!
 
Actually, he would not be permitted to celebrate Eucharist without the fingers that were anointed at ordination. St. Isaac Jogues S.J. returned to Rome after having had his fingers cut off by the Mohawks. He petitioned the Pope to be allowed to celebrate in spite of the lose of the fingers used to hold the host. Permission was granted and Pere Isaac returned to North America where he eventually suffered martyrdom.
In the case you pose the Church is unlikely to grant permission due to the severity of the mutilation.

Matthew
 
There are canons of the Church from the earliest councils that deal with this issue.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top