Confession Q

[AnonymousPrayer]

okay i have recieved my help now i just need to go to confession and i was wondering a few things that i have yet to learn…

I don’t exactly expect anyone to know this but, maybe i could hear some opinions on the question: Can someone receive the sacrament of Confession over the phone, internet ect…

My defense upon the point: Our Church laws have not exactly been completely ‘Modernized’ and I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Nevarlander]

Anonymous,
No, a priest can’t give absolution over the phone or the internet or anything, at least not ATM. Don’t know why, and it’s never been a big issue for me. I think it’s one of those things like celibacy that they could change in the future but haven’t. Just go to church, .

 

[Mary_Henley]

Can you receive communion over the phone
The priest must be present to convect the Sacrament.
The confession of the penitent must be to the priest…heard by the ear…so to speak.
This is the way Our lord set up the sacramental life of a christian…hands on… person to person.

 

[Matt_Collins]

Can you receive communion over the phone

No. Neither can you receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, Holy Orders, Annointing of the Sick, over the phone. But all of these involve physical touching or transfer of some physical thing (i.e., the Host).

HOWEVER, it is possible to receive the sacrament of matrimony over the phone in truly extraordinary cases.

I think the validity or invalidity of Verizon-based reconciliation would have to be based on something else.

In my opinion, though, I think one of the really important aspects of the sacrament of reconciliation is the person-to-person intimacy that really can only be achieved in person. Whether or not that’s truly essential, though, I don’t know. But just as I think it would be a tragedy if marriages were routinely celebrated over the phone, I also think it would be a tragedy if confession were routinely celebrated that way, even if it would be valid and licit under extreme circumstances.

 

[Gertabelle]

Verizon-based reconciliation

“Can you repeat that sin? This connection is really bad.”

Picture of penitent standing in the kitchen shouting their sins into the cell phone. The priest might not get it, but the neighbors surely will.

Go to church.

Gert.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Here are some links that might give you some more insight on the question:

ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage_print.asp?number=420616&language=en

pkblogs.com/acatholiclife/2006/03/necessity-of-confession.html

I especially encourage you to read the second website listed above, which describes the beauty of the Sacrament (and gives some “how-to” links at the bottom in case it has been a while and you don’t remember how to celebrate the sacrament). A quote from that website answering your specific question:

As we see in the Gospels, it is about a personal encounter with Jesus Christ that matters. In Confession we not only confess our sins but we humble ourselves by kneeling down and begging for mercy. The Prodigal Son did not call from across the field: “Forgive me.” Rather, the Gospel says, the Son “…got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).

In Confession Jesus Christ runs back to us and pours grace into our souls. It is about this personal encounter that matters.

The Catholic Church has also condemned Confession through the Internet:

The Pontifical Council on Social Communications on the Church and the Internet published a document in 2002 that says, “virtual reality cannot substitute for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, nor the sacramental reality of the other sacraments, nor the worship shared in a human community of flesh and bones…Sacraments on the internet do not exist…Even religious experiences that are possible there through the grace of God are insufficient if they are separated from interaction in the real world with other persons of faith.”

 

[Timidity]

My defense upon the point: Our Church laws have not exactly been completely ‘Modernized’ and I’ll leave it at that.

Furthermore, the Church has stated that confessions must take place in person. This was not an oversight caused by a ludite organization.

The letter was invented befor written history. The phone was invented in 1876. The first radio stations went on the air in 1920. The first regular television broadcasts began in 1935. The Code of Canon Law was updated in 1983.

The Church has stated that anyone listening to or viewing a Papal blessing on radio or television receives that blessing–that seems to be like a statement from a fully modernized establishment.

 

[AnonymousPrayer]

ah i see

just an inquiry i had been wondering about – didn’t really dig deep enough before i came here i guess.