All Cistercians, Trappists, Trinitarians and Franciscans are theologically and canonically religious brothers. It’s not that you call a Franciscan “Father” and they call each other “Brother”. It’s that they ARE canonically religious brothers.
Furthermore, unless it’s an emergency, he must have faculties to hear Confession.
An ordained monk or an ordained friar always has faculties to hear confession ins his own house of the people who live there. At a university, this will also include the students ande faculty, even though they don’t sleep there. The bishop cannot grant these faculties, nor can the bishop take them away. These faculties are granted by the superior of the house.
In addition, any visiting priest, including the bishop, must get faculties from the superior of the house to hear confessions of those who live in the house. This is assumed unless the superior tells you explicitly that you cannot hear confessions in his house.
Ordained monks and friars need faculties from the bishop to hear the confessions of any Catholic who does not live in the house. Since you do not live in the monastery and do not form part of the monastery community in any way, as an employee or a student, the ordained monks must have faculties from the bishop to hear your confession.
There is another thing here. The OP asked Brother for advice, not for confession. There may be a misunderstanding going on here. Even if a brother is a priest, he may not be qualified to give any kind of spiritual guidance. This actually requires academic training. Priests normally do not give more than a few sentences in the confessional, because they are not trained in the spiritual life. Spiritual Theology is an independent branch of theology. In formation to be a priest, there may be one or two introductory courses or an overview course that takes you over the classics, but these are offered as an elective, not as a requirement for your degree.
A priest may decline to give spiritual direction, if he feels that he is unqualified. Some are very qualified, not because they have a degree in Spiritual Theology, but because they are well read and they are naturals. It’s like being a teacher. Some people are very good at it without formal training.
There can also be confusion in the OP’s mind, because they may be two different persons whose voices sound similar.
There are several possibilities here.
Don’t most monks when they enter into the monastery take on a new name,
No. That is specific to the house that you enter. It’s the same with other religious communities, especially Franciscans. Each jurisdiction has its own policy. The renaming is not a canonical requirement. Many monks and friars do not do it. However, it is not uncommon either. My community does it, but the majority of Franciscans do not. The same holds true for monks. Some monasteries do it, but the majority do not. Often, you may find that they will add a name to their first name. For example, Michael Smith may become Michael Joseph.
as well as undergo tonsure, meaning their head is either completely or mostly shaved?
No again. There was a tradition of wearing the Corona. Very few religious communities follow this tradition. The common custom today for monks and mendicants is to wear very short hair. We call it a buzz cut, because it’s easy to care for. It’s up to the superior to decide what we do with our hair and in some communities, it’s left up to the individual.
It is common in communities where everyone must use the title Brother, for outsiders to get confused. In my community no priest is ever allowed to refer to himself or allow the laity to call him Father. Only the superior of the house is called Father. Our current superior is not a priest, but he is Father. The priest in the house is Brother. The laity know this rule.
They should, they get corrected enough on it. Poor things. They get so confused.
If you visit a monastery where the monks are commanded to be called Brother, you would have no way of knowing which brother is ordained. When you ask for confession or for some other favor, that’s when you would find out.
The idea is that one enters a monastery to be a brother, not to be a priest. You can be a priest and remain in the world as do diocesan priests, SSPX, FSSP, Maryknoll, Missionhurst, Opuse Dei and SOLT. These are not consecrated religious. They are secular Catholics, who are ordained priests.
That is why many abbots insist that monks never use the title Father. You are there to be a monk. To the layman, this takes some getting used to, because most priests are not religious. I believe that about 40% of priests are religious or is it that 40% of religious are priests. Either way, the number of ordained religious is not high enough to be a common sight.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
