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Ziggamafu
Guest
Just curious if a married priest can be the confessor for his own wife and children.
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Deacon_Ed
Guest
Canonically the answer is yes, he could. From a pastoral standpoint it’s generally not a good idea.
Deacon Ed
Deacon Ed
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palmas85
Guest
Another good reason Priests should not be married. Example, wife has affair, son steals car and uses drugs, daughter gets pregnant. How can the Priest also beingthe Father and Husband handle this situation? Hard enough without being the confessor. I would say impossible given the rules of secrecy of the confessional.
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ChemicalBean
Guest
Hafta call BS on that one. We could extend that logic to “another reason priests should not be children, siblings, etc.” His father could also be having an extramarital affair, his single sister gets pregnant, his gang-banging brother does X… Where are we going to find a priest not attached to some sort of relatives? Would we really want a priest without relatives, anyway?
I would guess that brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, mothers, fathers, cousins, etc. of priests would have similar problems if they live close by.
I agree there are very good reasons for latin rite priests not to be married.
But lets not go throwing out reasons for things that aren’t likely to be any greater of a problem for latin rite married priests than they are for other married priests.
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palmas85
Guest
If you say BS OK. However, hearing the confession of your father or mother or sister or brother having an affair , while certainly distasteful would not carry quite the same impact as hearing your wife confess to such a thing,. especially given the rules of the cofessional.
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palmas85
Guest
As I said, hearing the confessions of close relatives could be distasteful, but they would not have quite the same impact as hearing your wife confess…
As far as married priests, in either the eastern or Orthodox Churches their numbers are small and even the Churches that permit them have restrictions on them, no marriage after ordination for example and no married Bishops.
I would guess that they have a reason for these restrictions
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OutinChgoburbs
Guest
Kinda apples and oranges, don’t you think?
What does a family out of a bad soap opera (or an enterrpising sit com) have to do with priests being married? It’s as if you’ve said, “All priests who marry will have sinful families that need a serious confessor.” It runs along the same lines of, “How often do you beat your wife?”
That said: I know enough older ladies with middle-aged son-priests, and they do not want Father “Sonny” hearing their confessions.
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Damascus
Guest
Even if he can or not— I sure wouldnt want to get confession from my father!
So I will assume they dont go to him for confession, even if they could.
Why would he force them to? Why would they want to do it?
I doubt there is an example of this in practice.
So I will assume they dont go to him for confession, even if they could.
Why would he force them to? Why would they want to do it?
I doubt there is an example of this in practice.
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G_S
Guest
A related canonical question pertains to the fact that a priest is excommunicated latae sententiae for absolving an accomplice in a violation of the Sixth Commandment. So if a priest and his wife were involved in a sexual sin together, he would be excommunicated for absolving her.
Fr. Corapi tells a very moving story about how his own father came to him for confession.
Although there are married priests there are also very good reasons for priests being unmarried. I can readily understand them as a married deacon – as does my wife. The same good reasons are also why the Eastern Church does not allow remarriage for a widowed priest and insists that her bishops be celibate. Saying and believing this does not mean that I’m saying married priests are horrible or second rate. Also, the fact that there are excellent, holy married priests does not mean that celibacy is a bad idea. What would that say about Eastern Rite bishops?
Fr. Corapi tells a very moving story about how his own father came to him for confession.
Although there are married priests there are also very good reasons for priests being unmarried. I can readily understand them as a married deacon – as does my wife. The same good reasons are also why the Eastern Church does not allow remarriage for a widowed priest and insists that her bishops be celibate. Saying and believing this does not mean that I’m saying married priests are horrible or second rate. Also, the fact that there are excellent, holy married priests does not mean that celibacy is a bad idea. What would that say about Eastern Rite bishops?
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Karin
Guest
what church are you talking about?
the catholic church does not allow married priests so this is a non-issue/concern.
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JKirkLVNV
Guest
The Eastern Rite Churches do indeed ordain married men. And in our own Latin rite, married Anglican clergy that have converted have been ordained. All of these men have the same faculites for hearing confession as a single, celibate Latin Rite priest granted those facilities by their bishop.
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
Do you mean an active Catholic priest who received a special dispensation from the pope to be ordained as a married man? Yes, he can hear any persons confession. Except those prohibited by law, a partner in a serious crime or a partner in a sexual sin. If you are talking about a man who left the priesthood to marry, No, he does not have the faculities to hear any Confession except in danger of death.
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Patchunky
Guest
This depends on where you live.
In Russia and Ukraine, un-married priests are the DEFINITE MINORITY
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decn2b
Guest
I could also imagine the problems created when the kids have friends who are afraid to go to “tommy’s” dad for confession for fear of him not wanting his kids to hang out with you. Or a freind of the wife who is basically a freind of the priest would be very reluctant to go to him for confession. Think small town folks…the kind with only one Catholic church and one priest. It would be a MESS! besides that a catholic priest who was a father would have to set the good example and have like a dozen kids. I know my parish couldn’t affort paying for the expenses. Of course tradition of our faith would like a mother to stay home and raise the children so a priests wife would have to be the motherly example which in turn creats one big low income family. I guess they would save money by not having to drive to Mass. But married priests is just simply somthing I don’t see as a good thing. Especially in rural America where parishes are smallish and money is short.
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Patchunky
Guest
It’s been that way in the villages of Eastern Europe and Ukriane for centuries; they have married priests and they’ve had no problems so far…
Is using a screen for confession so as to remain anonymous a tradition in eastern and orthodox churches?
I think Deacon Ed put it very well. Married priests (assuming they have faculties to hear confessions at all) are allowed to hear the confession of a close family member but it’s probably not the best pastoral option.
If there is no other priest nearby then I guess everyone just has to deal with it.
I think Deacon Ed put it very well. Married priests (assuming they have faculties to hear confessions at all) are allowed to hear the confession of a close family member but it’s probably not the best pastoral option.
If there is no other priest nearby then I guess everyone just has to deal with it.
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Patchunky
Guest
In the Eastern traditions I’m familiar with, confession is face to face, sometimes in a seperate room before an ikon of Christ but also infront of the main ikon of Christ on the ikonostas.
It was a very old, old Russian custom that extremely good & close friends would go to confession together. I have an old video of the Russian Orthodox church in Russia and it shows 2 old women going to confession together.
Hope this helps…
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Grace_and_Glory
Guest
Given the necessity of the seal of the confessional, I think it would be very difficult for a priest to absolve his family. One priest at our Newman Center has a garden he takes good care of. I always joke that if I ever destroyed his garden, I would have to go to Confession to him so that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it afterwards. There might be a loophole if he were able to find out about it later through a different source, but he wouldn’t be able to use the information I told him in confession.
Now, let’s alter this example a bit. If the priest were my father, and I confessed to behaviors that I ought to be disciplined for, what should he do? As a father, he needs to provide adequate discipline. As a priest, he cannot use any information he learned in a confession in order to provide that discipline. It could get very complicated for him trying to figure out what actions of mine he would have known about outside of confession (and could therefore discipline me for) and which actions of mine he probably would not have discovered if I had not confessed them (and for which he therefore could not discipline me).
It might not be a canonical issue, but it certainly might be a practical one.
Now, let’s alter this example a bit. If the priest were my father, and I confessed to behaviors that I ought to be disciplined for, what should he do? As a father, he needs to provide adequate discipline. As a priest, he cannot use any information he learned in a confession in order to provide that discipline. It could get very complicated for him trying to figure out what actions of mine he would have known about outside of confession (and could therefore discipline me for) and which actions of mine he probably would not have discovered if I had not confessed them (and for which he therefore could not discipline me).
It might not be a canonical issue, but it certainly might be a practical one.
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