Can you have confession through a closed window?

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I’m not worried by the coronavirus or panicking but I just wondered if I had it and had to stay in my house and imagine it was going to be fatal for me but I needed confession could my priest stand on the other side of the window and shout? I know we can’t have confession over the phone or on a webcam.
 
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Mr. Phoenix, I’ve noticed that you started a number of threads where you post in bold type. Is it possible for you to please just post in normal type, not bold?

Posting in the bold all the time is somewhat distracting and harder to read. Maybe there is a setting on your device that you could change to make your posts be in normal non-bold type so they are easier to read?
 
I would think glass isn’t much more different than a screen or pieces of wood.
 
I don’t see why not. Father Damien of Molokai shouted his confession across an expanse of water to a priest in another boat.

www.tfp.org

Saint Damien: A Hero Who Died on the Battlefield of Honor

There are few places on Earth more beautiful than Hawaii. While this idyllic paradise may be the destination spot for tourists and honeymooners, Joseph de Veust
www.tfp.org www.tfp.org

(Not a blanket endorsement of TFP, just a good telling of the story.)
 
It is possible for any situation where confession is confidential. I understand that confession over the internet of phone is not allowable because of the potential for the seal to be broken. I do not know if this is true, but it is possible to have electronic confession in a way that is secure. Maybe some bright Catholic entrepreneur could develop such a system for parishes where disease is of great concern.
 
pnewton said:
It is possible for any situation where confession is confidential. I understand that confession over the internet of phone is not allowable because of the potential for the seal to be broken. I do not know if this is true, but it is possible to have electronic confession in a way that is secure. Maybe some bright Catholic entrepreneur could develop such a system for parishes where disease is of great concern.
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I’ve never heard that before — that the reason internet or phone confession is not permitted, is because of the potential lack of confidentiality. I thought it was because there is no physical proximity. Hard-of-hearing people use telephone receivers within confessionals, if they are available — I’ve seen them. A phone is a phone. And the seal can be broken even within the confessional — a malevolent person placing a bug in the confessional, or even someone standing too close when the priest and/or penitent are speaking in a loud voice (which I beg them, please, do not do this, speak softly — you may not realize this, but loud voices carry, especially within a quiet church).

I think the Church should reconsider whether actual physical proximity is required for the validity of sacraments (where the actual touching of a person or material thing is not required, as is the case with confession) and Mass attendance. There is very little in today’s world that cannot be done virtually online — doctors even do online surgery using robots. Would it be within the Church’s power of binding and loosing to say that, if necessary (being shut-in, quarantined, confined, snowed-in, etc.), one can fulfill the Sunday Mass “obligation” (that word sounds awful in English!) by watching a live broadcast, paying the requisite attention, and joining in the intentions of the priest? People watch the Mass on video screens in cry rooms — what’s the difference? Likewise, standing outside the church while Mass is being celebrated, if there is no room within the church, or if loudspeakers are erected to permit parents with inconsolable children to hear Mass outside the church, fulfills the “obligation”. If one attends Mass in a football stadium, they still hear Mass even though they are scores of meters away from the priest.

I know of at least one church that does have the loudspeakers:


(See page 10 under the heading “outdoor speakers”)
 
A priest who is ill would not be in the confessional.

If you catch this or any other virus, a priest would take precautions similar to what your home health workers would.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
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HomeschoolDad:
I thought it was because there is no physical proximity
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You are correct. We cannot receive any sacrament from a remote location, no telegraphed or Skype Confirmation.
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No, because confirmation requires being chrismated with holy oil, and that can’t be done online. Ditto for baptism, the Eucharist, holy orders, and anointing of the sick. All require physical contact and, in the case of baptism, the Eucharist, and AOTS, some kind of material substance (water, bread and wine, and oil respectively)

However, the sacrament of penance (and, arguably, matrimony) does not require any physical contact. Matrimony might be theoretically possible through a video connection, or at the very least, the bride and groom could be together, but the priest could witness the exchange of vows online. (This probably wouldn’t work in the Eastern Rites where the priest himself administers the sacrament through physical crowning of the couple.)
 
HomeschoolDad said:
However, the sacrament of penance (and, arguably, matrimony) does not require any physical contact.
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If a priest is not available, the Church has set in Canon Law what would occur. Deacons may witness a marriage, designated Lay people may be approved to witness marriage. If the two are on a desert island with no people, they can marry each other.

For the Sacraments of Healing, the doctrine of the Church is clear, you gotta be present.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
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HomeschoolDad:
However, the sacrament of penance (and, arguably, matrimony) does not require any physical contact.
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If a priest is not available, the Church has set in Canon Law what would occur. Deacons may witness a marriage, designated Lay people may be approved to witness marriage. If the two are on a desert island with no people, they can marry each other.

For the Sacraments of Healing, the doctrine of the Church is clear, you gotta be present.
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Agreed, I am just trying to find a way for sacraments to be available to the faithful as easily as possible. If the world is coming to an end in 30 minutes, and the Pope wants to stand on the balcony at the Vatican and absolve everyone in the world from their sins — assuming that’s possible — I’ll gladly accept the absolution. I’ll need it!
 
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pnewton said:
it is possible to have electronic confession in a way that is secure.
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No. All sacraments require physical presence of the one who is administering the sacrament and the one who is receiving it. For baptism, confirmation holy orders and anointing the reasons are obvious; for the sacrament of reconciliation presence is important because it is, after all, intended to be a human interaction (as are all sacraments). Even in (rare) cases of marriage by proxy, there is still a physical presence.

Thus confession via skype, viber, text message, telephone, carrier pigeon, video link or telegraph are all invalid (semaphore and smoke signals might theoretically be possible but I’d have serious questions around confidentiality). This does not however require you to get up close and personal with the priest or even (necessarily) to be able to see him (at least not clearly). So confesion through a closed window could be possible (although tbh I can’t see why you couldn’t open it and just stand back a bit). That said, your average confessional should provide sufficient distance and barriers to alleviate any concerns about transmission of disease.
 
InThePew said:
No. All sacraments require physical presence of the one who is administering the sacrament and the one who is receiving it.
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What is the legal distance the Church (and God) demand to forgive sin? I have been trying to find Church teaching on this, since we have lots of opinions here. I have heard the same thing you posted a lot, but I do not remember where I heard if from.

However, when I was speaking of electronic confession, I was thinking of even possibly having closed video conference within the Church building, but with separate rooms. I was not thinking of the internet, which is not secured, and crosses diocesan boundaries. A priest need faculties from the bishop for validity (normally) of this Sacrament.

I am hoping to find a distinction in “can.” We can not do anything contrary to Church law, but what in current guidelines could validly change. The two are really separate questions. Until I heard that large areas were suspending Mass, I thought the point moot. Now, I am not so sure.
 
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Actually, that is valid and specifically addressed in canon law. But only for those present, I don’t see it working for the entire world (but I’m not in charge of such decisions, thankfully).

Can. 961 §1. Absolution cannot be imparted in a general manner to many penitents at once without previous individual confession unless:

1/ danger of death is imminent and there is insufficient time for the priest or priests to hear the confessions of the individual penitents;
 
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pnewton said:
What is the legal distance the Church (and God) demand to forgive sin? I have been trying to find Church teaching on this, since we have lots of opinions here. I have heard the same thing you posted a lot, but I do not remember where I heard if from.
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There’s no “legal distance” as such (it would, in any case, be arbitrary). The priest and penitent must be physically present to each other - normally sharing the same physical space. However, as in the case of Damien of Molokai shouting distance seemed to have sufficed. That said, non-verbal communication (such as passing notes) is acceptable where necessary (for example, if a penitent can’t speak). Although there obvious come a point at which two people are no longer realistically physically present to each other, there’s no set distance, it just boils down to common sense in all the circumstances. Physical presence is what ultimately matters not the distance.
AHapka said:
Actually, that is valid and specifically addressed in canon law. But only for those present, I don’t see it working for the entire world
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Indeed, you would still need to be physically present. For all others, an act of perfect contrition would suffice.
 
So, does anyone have any Church teaching on this? I haven’t even been able to find specifics in canon law. Then, the question remains is it a discipline, or can it be changed? Since penance used to be public, I would bet the actual requirements for validity are not that many, and it would be acceptable to enact temporary measures. Again, anything from Church teaching?
 
pnewton said:
So, does anyone have any Church teaching on this?
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From the “The Church and the Internet” by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications:
Virtual reality is no substitute for the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacramental reality of the other sacraments, and shared worship in a flesh-and-blood human community. There are no sacraments on the Internet; and even the religious experiences possible there by the grace of God are insufficient apart from real-world interaction with other persons of faith.
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As to whether it could be changed I’ll leave it to the canonists and sacramental theologians to spill ink over that one. Suffice to say, the question is definitely not a new one - anything but - since there is, after all, “nothing new under the sun”!
 
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