Can Another Person Be Present During Confession?

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Zekariya said:
Father, I would appreciate a source if only for my own learning. I do not see this addressed either way in canon law. Why do say no? Is this a bishops’ conference thing? Is this a personal interpretation? Is there no source for your answer?
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I cannot imagine why I would have to justify the answer. You are asking me to “prove” that a third party cannot be present for confession (and contrary to the “answers” that have been given, the OP was specifically not asking about a translator).

In Catholic practice, this is a given. Confession occurs with one priest and one penitent. The relevant canon law has already been posted. I can spend all day researching documents, both obvious and obscure, but there’s no point.

The Church insists upon individual auricular Confession. There’s nothing for me to prove here.

The problem here in this thread is that people are too eager to change what the OP asked, and too eager to make a very simple question, with a very simple answer, into something much more complicated than it needs to be.

Read the OP’s question. The answer is “no.”
 
Father, this is why I told the OP to speak to her priest. In such a situation her pastor with recourse to the bishop can decide the best way to help her whether with a dispensation or even an alternative idea to help her as a pastoral solution for her severe anxiety. Such a thing cannot be definitively answered here with a no or a yes on an online forum.
 
Zekariya said:
Father, this is why I told the OP to speak to her priest. In such a situation her pastor with recourse to the bishop can decide the best way to help her whether with a dispensation or even an alternative idea to help her as a pastoral solution for her severe anxiety. Such a thing cannot be definitively answered here with a no or a yes on an online forum.
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The answer to the OP’s question is still “no.”
 
Zekariya said:
The answer is still “ask your pastor” because there are alternatives that do not require her husband to hear the confession.
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No, it isn’t.

The answer to the OPs question is “no.” Nothing you have posted, nor nothing that you might post in the future can change the answer. It is “no.” Period. The Church is absolutely clear on this.
 
FrDavid96 said:
No, it isn’t.

The answer to the OPs question is “no.” Nothing you have posted, nor nothing that you might post in the future can change the answer. It is “no.” Period. The Church is absolutely clear on this.
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If the husband cannot be present, her pastor could come up with a lawful alternative that would lessen her anxiety. The answer is still “ask your pastor”.
 
I think at this point the OP has all the info there is to get. The constant back and forth of yes/no/yes/no isn’t really adding anything.
 
Yes, unfortunately someone here believes their answer is the final authority on all matters of the Church and do not need to be defended by anything.

The answer is not ‘no’, either theologically or canonically. If anyone wishes to claim ‘no’ and not ‘ask your pastor’, then they need to assert whether it is no theologically or no canonically and provide evidence.
 
Brendan said:
FYI, Canon 960 is in reference to individual vs general confession. In the case of troops going into battle, or a sinking ship, it is permissible for a priest to give general a general absolution.

Note the reference in ‘Form 3’ of this diocesan website
dioceseofbmt.org/resources/resources/sacrament-celebration/reconciliation.html#generalabsolution
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Respectfully, I do not believe that to be correct. If we look at the canons here:
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3F.HTM
we see that Canon 960 is the first one in Chapter 1, which pertains to the celebration of the Sacrament. General absolution is mentioned, but that is in Canon 961. I believe it is clear that 960 applies to all confessions, at least how it is normally read.
CHAPTER I.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT
Can. 960 Individual and integral confession and absolution constitute the only ordinary means by which a member of the faithful conscious of grave sin is reconciled with God and the Church. Only physical or moral impossibility excuses from confession of this type; in such a case reconciliation can be obtained by other means.
Can. 961 §1. Absolution cannot be imparted in a general manner to many penitents at once without previous individual confession unless:
In any case, this would be for another thread as it appears this one has run it’s course.
 
Nothing that has been posted here changes the simple fact that the answer to the OP’s question is “no.”
 
Prot. No. 700/00/L Circular Letter concerning the integrity of the Sacrament of Penance (from the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20000630_circolare-sulla-penitenza%20_en.html
6. The Holy Father has pointed to the personal nature of sin, conversion, forgiveness and reconciliation as the reason why the Rite of Reconciliation of several penitents with individual confession and absolution “demands the personal confession of sins and individual absolution”. Since individual and integral confession of sins is not only an obligation “but also an inviolable and inalienable right” of the faithful, any innovation which would interfere with their fulfillment of this obligation, such as when penitents are invited or otherwise encouraged to name just one sin or to name a representative sin, is to be eliminated.
Although the above quote from the Circular letter on the Integrity of the Sacrament of Penance was intended for the purpose of addressing general absolution, it does does offer some evidence regarding the necessity of personal (private) confession as well as pointing out that any innovation which would interfere with the fulfillment of the obligation for “individual and integral confession of sins” is to be eliminated. Since in the Church we have had a long practice of private confession, bringing someone else into the confessional would be an innovation. The answer to the OP’s question is “no”. The burden to prove otherwise is on those who disagree.
 
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