ATTN: All Priests, Deacons, and Amateur Canonists

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SenorSalsa

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I have come up with a couple questions which my friends and I do not have answers to(a feat, considering I go to a good Catholic University, and its what we spend our free time learning:D )

If I am a priest, and I happen to wander out of my diocese on the way to a restaurant I want to eat at(just an example), and someone approaches me in the parking lot and asks for me to hear confession, can I here it? What this boils down to I guess is do I need faculties from the local Ordinary, or just the Ordinary for the diocese which I am incardinated in.

I know that if you leave the diocese for the intent of doing this, or to celebrate a marriage, you can obtain a letter(my friend actually had a copy of such a letter, in latin), but I more am wondering about a spontaneous thing

and

Can I freeze Holy Water licitly, and/or Can Ice be blessed and made Holy Water?
 
This really is a question for a priest. However, I don’t believe it is violating any protocol for a priest to hear a confession outside of his diocese. We’ve had priests come and stay with us from out of state, and always go to them for confession.
 
SenorSalsa said:
I have come up with a couple questions which my friends and I do not have answers to(a feat, considering I go to a good Catholic University, and its what we spend our free time learning:D )

If I am a priest, and I happen to wander out of my diocese on the way to a restaurant I want to eat at(just an example), and someone approaches me in the parking lot and asks for me to hear confession, can I here it? What this boils down to I guess is do I need faculties from the local Ordinary, or just the Ordinary for the diocese which I am incardinated in.

I know that if you leave the diocese for the intent of doing this, or to celebrate a marriage, you can obtain a letter(my friend actually had a copy of such a letter, in latin), but I more am wondering about a spontaneous thing

and

Can I freeze Holy Water licitly, and/or Can Ice be blessed and made Holy Water?
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If that priest has faculties to hear confessions from his own bishop (and this is not necessarily a given), then yes he can hear them anywhere in the world (unless he’s been personally forbidden by the local bishop to hear confessions in that diocese).

I don’t think there’s any prohibition against intentionally freezing holy water, but… why would one want to?

No, ice can’t be blessed to make holy water–only water.
 
FrDavid96 said:
I don’t think there’s any prohibition against intentionally freezing holy water, but… why would one want to?

No, ice can’t be blessed to make holy water–only water.
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you know, I don’t really remember why I came up with this question. Just kind of one of those Catholic trivia things my mind wonders.

Thanks for the answers
 
SenorSalsa said:
you know, I don’t really remember why I came up with this question. Just kind of one of those Catholic trivia things my mind wonders.

Thanks for the answers
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Well, Senor Salsa, since you didn’t ask for responses to your questions from non amateur canonists, I merely aspire to modestly expanding the horizons of your inquiry and the judicious allocation of your free time. 😃

After all, we do not want to take things for granted and left unexposed to reflection during these years of your academic endeavors. We must narrow the scenaro. (OK, nit pick for amusement.)

By “priest” do you mean Catholic priest?

Is the person approaching you validly baptized? in danger of death? an accomplice in a sin against the 6th commandment of the Decalogue?

When you say “wander,” was this purposeful or Brownian? What was on the menu? (No, wait, scratch those.)

(Without complications arising from the answers to those questions, of course, FrDavid96 is correct.)
 
cameron_lansing said:
Well, Senor Salsa, since you didn’t ask for responses to your questions from non amateur canonists, I merely aspire to modestly expanding the horizons of your inquiry and the judicious allocation of your free time. 😃

After all, we do not want to take things for granted and left unexposed to reflection during these years of your academic endeavors. We must narrow the scenaro. (OK, nit pick for amusement.)

By “priest” do you mean Catholic priest?

Is the person approaching you validly baptized? in danger of death? an accomplice in a sin against the 6th commandment of the Decalogue?

When you say “wander,” was this purposeful or Brownian? What was on the menu? (No, wait, scratch those.)

(Without complications arising from the answers to those questions, of course, FrDavid96 is correct.)
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I mostly put amateurs because I envisioned there are far more of those than professional canonists hanging around CAF.

He is a Catholic Priest(Latin Rite to be specific), validly and licitly ordained, not of a Religious community.

The person in question is a layperson, Has recieved all sacraments at least once except for Holy Orders. Is not in danger of death, and has no excommunication or other such canonical punishment imposed upon him, so he may be absolved by any priest.

Well, the only way I ever remember Brownian motion is by the analogy of a drunk guy, so for this well assume it was purposeful, as was clear by his wanting to get dinner. He also knows that he has crossed into the other diocese, so he is aware of his situation

Enough information?😃
 
SenorSalsa said:
I have come up with a couple questions which my friends and I do not have answers to(a feat, considering I go to a good Catholic University, and its what we spend our free time learning:D )

If I am a priest, and I happen to wander out of my diocese on the way to a restaurant I want to eat at(just an example), and someone approaches me in the parking lot and asks for me to hear confession, can I here it? What this boils down to I guess is do I need faculties from the local Ordinary, or just the Ordinary for the diocese which I am incardinated in.

I know that if you leave the diocese for the intent of doing this, or to celebrate a marriage, you can obtain a letter(my friend actually had a copy of such a letter, in latin), but I more am wondering about a spontaneous thing
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I am a priest, so let me attempt an answer.

There are certain boundaries I would expect people to respect. For example I would expect that when the rectory office is closed people would not stop by for things that can and should be taken care of during office hours- mass cards, CCD regestration, Baptism information, Wedding information, etc.

However, at the same time there are certain things which people must feel free to come by or call ANYTIME for: Confession is one of those things. The same goes for Annointing of the Sick in the hospital, a major family crisis, etc. As a priest I will hear a Confession ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, even if I was on a vacation cruise in the Bahama’s. The same goes for an emergency hospital visit, or for the Sacrament of the Sick. In my mind- that is part of being a priest. Just like a Medical Doctor is always a medical doctor- even if they are on vacation, so the same with a priest.

That being said, it has always been my understanding that the faculty to hear a Confession is universal- it is to be presumed. EVEN if a priest is suspended from active ministry, in an emergency he may always hear a confession. Whether or not he may always annoint I am not sure.
Can I freeze Holy Water, and/or Can Ice be blessed and made Holy Water?
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Why would you want to?

When something is blessed all it means is that the object in question is set apart- it is a sacramental- it is a reminder of something sacred. Holy Water then is simply water that is set apart as something which reminds us of our Baptism, our incorporation into Christ.

Hence my question: Why would you want to bless ice?
 
Apologist78 said:
Hence my question: Why would you want to bless ice?
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Okay . . . a priest and an eskimo were traveling the tundra. The eskimo is seriously injured and tells the priest that he wishes to be baptized Catholic before his impending death . . . All that is available is (you guessed it) ICE!!! Can the priest bless the ice and then hold it in his hand and let the melting water from his hands’ warmth pour over the eskimo?

(As long as we are talking hypothetical . . . I thought I would seriously hypothesize . . . 😃 )
 
I don’t see why you couldn’t bless ice. Ice is simply water in a different state of matter.
 
I’m fairly confident that in an emergency, any priest can hear a confession and issue an absolution. I read an article about two priests on vacation in NYC during the Sept 11 attacks. They put on their priest shirts and ran down to ground zero. They weren’t from New York (city or state).

I know that even a suspended priest or a priest permanently removed from the priesthood can hear a confession in an emergency.

I’m not sure what the rule is in a non-life threatening emergency, but I have a hard time seeing a priest refusing to hear a confession if asked nicely.
 
IrishAm said:
Okay . . . a priest and an eskimo were traveling the tundra. The eskimo is seriously injured and tells the priest that he wishes to be baptized Catholic before his impending death . . . All that is available is (you guessed it) ICE!!! Can the priest bless the ice and then hold it in his hand and let the melting water from his hands’ warmth pour over the eskimo?

(As long as we are talking hypothetical . . . I thought I would seriously hypothesize . . . 😃 )
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One does not need “blessed” water or “Holy Water” in order to validly perform a Baptism.

But Ice could be blessed. Any object can be blessed.
 
Apologist78 said:
However, at the same time there are certain things which people must feel free to come by or call ANYTIME for: Confession is one of those things. The same goes for Annointing of the Sick in the hospital, a major family crisis, etc. As a priest I will hear a Confession ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, even if I was on a vacation cruise in the Bahama’s. The same goes for an emergency hospital visit, or for the Sacrament of the Sick. In my mind- that is part of being a priest.
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Yeah thats kind of why I wondered this, was because I would feel terrible if I had to turn someone away who asked for me to hear their Confession.

And as for why I would want to freeze Holy Water, no reason in particular, it was just one of those I wonder… questions. Perhaps I wanted to keep some in reserve, but I didn’t want to risk it being spilt, so I would put some in a tupperware container and stick it in the freezer.
 
SenorSalsa said:
.

And as for why I would want to freeze Holy Water, no reason in particular, it was just one of those I wonder… questions. Perhaps I wanted to keep some in reserve, but I didn’t want to risk it being spilt, so I would put some in a tupperware container and stick it in the freezer.
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Spilling holy water is not a sin. Think of it as blessing the ground you walk on. 🙂
 
What about a priest saying an “unofficial” private Holy Mass in another diocese? If we use the example from the OP with the priest in the restaurant outside of his diocese… let’s say the restaurant’s staff and customers convince the priest to say Mass there on the spot (the priest has his travel Mass kit, missal, his alb, stole, hosts and wine to consecrate, so he’s prepared.). Would it be canonically illegal?

Now, what if our hypothetical priest has a priest friend at a parish in a neighboring diocese (the priest friend is the parrochial pastor), and he is asked for help with the Mass schedule just for one day?

Now to change it a little:

What if a visiting bishop is on vacation at another diocese and decides to visit the local parish and asks the priest who will give Mass if he can concelebrate mass with him? Assuming it is “legal”, who would preside the mass? Would the Bishop preside based solely on his rank as “bishop”, even if he doesn’t belong to the diocese but is there on a vacation?

What if it would be a cardinal?

What if it would be the Pope? Say he is having a private vacation in another diocese outside of Italy. No official nor state visit, which means no local invitation from the local bishop. Would the Pope, as bishop from another diocese, have the right to canonically “legally” hold a public official mass at a local parish? (assuming he hasn’t sought any previous “permission” from the local bishop–I write “permission” because he’s after all the Pope…but he’s the Pope of the universal Church…but he is NOT the local bishop.)

And if yes, does this mean that the Pope have absolute authority to “do as he wishes” on the local parish level? For example, can the Pope order your local parish to put up a certain statue of the Virgin Mary (and not counting with the local bishop)? Or to change the name of your Parish? (I heard this was an issue at St. Peter’s Basilica when JPII was Pope. He wanted a certain image of the BVM put up in one of the altars there, but, St. Peter’s not being the Pope’s basilica, JPII had to ask permission to St. Peter’s archpriest for this. The latter reluctantly agreed. I think JPII was forced to convince the archpriest because he wasn’t happy with the Pope’s wish. This is just something I heard, so I don’t know the veracity to this story.)

I have very little knowledge of Canon Law, and I am worried that the above questions are dumb. If they are, please excuse me 🙂
 
kurtmasur said:
What about a priest saying an “unofficial” private Holy Mass in another diocese? If we use the example from the OP with the priest in the restaurant outside of his diocese… let’s say the restaurant’s staff and customers convince the priest to say Mass there on the spot (the priest has his travel Mass kit, missal, his alb, stole, hosts and wine to consecrate, so he’s prepared.). Would it be canonically illegal?

Now, what if our hypothetical priest has a priest friend at a parish in a neighboring diocese (the priest friend is the parrochial pastor), and he is asked for help with the Mass schedule just for one day?

Now to change it a little:

What if a visiting bishop is on vacation at another diocese and decides to visit the local parish and asks the priest who will give Mass if he can concelebrate mass with him? Assuming it is “legal”, who would preside the mass? Would the Bishop preside based solely on his rank as “bishop”, even if he doesn’t belong to the diocese but is there on a vacation?

What if it would be a cardinal?

What if it would be the Pope? Say he is having a private vacation in another diocese outside of Italy. No official nor state visit, which means no local invitation from the local bishop. Would the Pope, as bishop from another diocese, have the right to canonically “legally” hold a public official mass at a local parish? (assuming he hasn’t sought any previous “permission” from the local bishop–I write “permission” because he’s after all the Pope…but he’s the Pope of the universal Church…but he is NOT the local bishop.)

And if yes, does this mean that the Pope have absolute authority to “do as he wishes” on the local parish level? For example, can the Pope order your local parish to put up a certain statue of the Virgin Mary (and not counting with the local bishop)? Or to change the name of your Parish? (I heard this was an issue at St. Peter’s Basilica when JPII was Pope. He wanted a certain image of the BVM put up in one of the altars there, but, St. Peter’s not being the Pope’s basilica, JPII had to ask permission to St. Peter’s archpriest for this. The latter reluctantly agreed. I think JPII was forced to convince the archpriest because he wasn’t happy with the Pope’s wish. This is just something I heard, so I don’t know the veracity to this story.)

I have very little knowledge of Canon Law, and I am worried that the above questions are dumb. If they are, please excuse me 🙂
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I am not a Canon Law expert but my rule of thumb is that I presume the faculty to offer mass. That being said I think that only applies to a Church in the diocese, or privately in your hotel room.
 
Apologist78 said:
I am not a Canon Law expert but my rule of thumb is that I presume the faculty to offer mass. That being said I think that only applies to a Church in the diocese, or privately in your hotel room.
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The possession of sacerdotal power rather than the possession of a faculty operates in such a case.

If it is a question of celebrating mass in a church where a priest is unknown to the rector (or pastor), then canon 903 applies.

The liceity of the place of celebration is a different question, unrelated to the power of the priest to celebrate Mass. See canon 932 and Redemptionis sacramentum n. 108.

What’s this thing about ice? Around here, we’re trying to exorcize it not bless it.
 
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