In Case of Emergency

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DavidSears

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Now, it is said that in the event of extreme emergency, a lay person can baptize someone. Can they also perform other sacraments? Like confession, marriage, etc. Like for example, in the extraordinarily unlikely event that me and a girl are in my Cessna (that I don’t own, with the pilot license I don’t have), and I have to make an emergency landing on an uncharted island with no people anywhere. Can I declare myself married to her? Or if something happens where death is immanent and a person needs to make a confession with no priest around. Can I hear a confession? Or if a person is bed ridden and is going to die in like a minute, can I do Anointing of the Sick? Just some examples.
 
Any person, even an unbaptized one, can administer Baptism. The needed matter, form, and intention are water touching the head, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Som and of the Holy Spirit,” and the intention to baptize. This, however, is only to be done in an emergency

In cases of a dire scarcity of clergy, the local ordinary may designate worthy lay people to witness weddings for the Church, as the man and woman confer the sacrament between each other by exchanging vows (at least, that’s the understanding in the Latin rite)

Hope that helps 🙂
 
to piggyback on last post…

but the other sacraments…no. The laity don’t have the authority to hear confessions etc etc.
 
NickD said:
Any person, even an unbaptized one, can administer Baptism. The needed matter, form, and intention are water touching the head, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and the intention to baptize. This, however, is only to be done in an emergency

In cases of a dire scarcity of clergy, the local ordinary may designate worthy lay people to witness weddings for the Church, as the man and woman confer the sacrament between each other by exchanging vows (at least, that’s the understanding in the Latin rite)

Hope that helps 🙂
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😊:gopray:

I do not know if it is proper, but in some places that it is impossible to find priests, that I baptised some dying people.:bighanky:
 
I do not know if it is proper, but in some places that it is impossible to find priests, that I baptised some dying people.:bighanky:

If someone is at risk of dying and wishes to be baptized, it is completely proper for anyone to baptize him/her, if there is no cleric around
 
Baptism: Anyone can baptize if the situation is dire enough. Someone got hit by a car and wants to be baptized before they die in thirty second? Find some water and get to work!

Confirmation: Bishops, although they can delegate to priests.

Eucharists: Only priests and bishops can consecrate. Deacons are ordinary ministers of Communion. Laymen can become extraordinary ministers, and can bring the Eucharist to the sick and shut-ins if they were delegated these roles. Priests, bishops, and deacons can obviously bring the Eucharist as well.

Confession: Priest and bishops only. Period, end of discussion.

Marriage: For a valid marriage, you need someone with faculties and two witnesses. Deacons, priests, and bishops fit the bill for celebrating the marriage, along with the people getting married being one man and one woman.

Anointing of the Sick: Needs to be a priest or a bishop.

Holy Orders: You need to be a bishop to confer Orders.
 
Melchior said:
Baptism: Anyone can baptize if the situation is dire enough. Someone got hit by a car and wants to be baptized before they die in thirty second? Find some water and get to work!

Confirmation: Bishops, although they can delegate to priests.

Eucharists: Only priests and bishops can consecrate. Deacons are ordinary ministers of Communion. Laymen can become extraordinary ministers, and can bring the Eucharist to the sick and shut-ins if they were delegated these roles. Priests, bishops, and deacons can obviously bring the Eucharist as well.

Confession: Priest and bishops only. Period, end of discussion.

Marriage: For a valid marriage, you need someone with faculties and two witnesses. Deacons, priests, and bishops fit the bill for celebrating the marriage, along with the people getting married being one man and one woman.

Anointing of the Sick: Needs to be a priest or a bishop.

Holy Orders: You need to be a bishop to confer Orders.
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That is correct. You may not simply rush up to anyone you think is dying and baptise them but if they show intention to want to be baptised that is different.

§2 An adult in danger of death may be baptised if, with some knowledge of the principal truths of the faith, he or she has in some manner manifested the intention to receive baptism and promises to observe the requirements of the christian religion.
 
DavidSears said:
Now, it is said that in the event of extreme emergency, a lay person can baptize someone. Can they also perform other sacraments? Like confession, marriage, etc. Like for example, in the extraordinarily unlikely event that me and a girl are in my Cessna (that I don’t own, with the pilot license I don’t have), and I have to make an emergency landing on an uncharted island with no people anywhere. Can I declare myself married to her? Or if something happens where death is immanent and a person needs to make a confession with no priest around. Can I hear a confession? Or if a person is bed ridden and is going to die in like a minute, can I do Anointing of the Sick? Just some examples.
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Baptism can be administered by anybody: Catholic, non-Catholic, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, in a state of grace or not.

So long as the person administering the baptism uses the proper matter (flowing water) and form (“I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”) and intends to do as the Church teaches, it doesn’t matter who that person is.

None of the other sacraments can be administered in this way, only Baptism.

In the event that you fall in love with a person and there is absolutely no other people with you, and there is no priest to marry you, you can enter what is called a “natural marriage.” This is in contrast to a “sacramental marriage” which is done by a priest. Natural marriages are what occurred in the world up until the time that Jesus instituted Marriage as a sacrament.

In the event that a baptized person is about to die and has sins on their soul, and no priest is available, all they can do is offer a perfect act of contrition, begging God for forgiveness, and die trusting in His mercy.
 
MichaelHowling said:
to piggyback on last post…

but the other sacraments…no. The laity don’t have the authority to hear confessions etc etc.
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It’s not so much that the laity don’t have the authority to hear confessions. Technically, a lay person can hear confessions of people (just log on to to Facebook, or hang out with a group on young adults living the immoral life :rolleyes:), it’s that they do not have the power to absolve sin. I can say, “I absolve you of your sins” over a person confessing until the cows come home, and it wouldn’t do anything except cause me to commit a mortal sin for simulating a sacrament."Further, it’s not just the laity, but only those who have been ordained to the priesthood who have the power to absolve sins. A deacon isn’t a lay person, but he cannot give absolution. A priest who has returned to the lay state can, in emergency situations, still absolve sins, as his ordination left a permanent mark on his soul.
 
dshix said:
In the event that you fall in love with a person and there is absolutely no other people with you, and there is no priest to marry you, you can enter what is called a “natural marriage.” This is in contrast to a “sacramental marriage” which is done by a priest. Natural marriages are what occurred in the world up until the time that Jesus instituted Marriage as a sacrament.
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A natural marriage simply means that one or both spouses are baptized. Prior to Christ, all baptisms would have been natural simply because nobody was baptized.

If a baptized man and woman exchange vows in certain cases of emergency or no priest around for a reasonable time, the marriage is sacramental. The priest being present has no effect on the sacramental nature of the marriage; only the baptismal status of the parties matter.
 
=DavidSears;10302805]Now, it is said that in the event of extreme emergency, a lay person can baptize someone. Can they also perform other sacraments? Like confession, marriage, etc. Like for example, in the extraordinarily unlikely event that me and a girl are in my Cessna (that I don’t own, with the pilot license I don’t have), and I have to make an emergency landing on an uncharted island with no people anywhere. Can I declare myself married to her? Or if something happens where death is immanent and a person needs to make a confession with no priest around. Can I hear a confession? Or if a person is bed ridden and is going to die in like a minute, can I do Anointing of the Sick? Just some examples.
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As to the “HOW”?

Please read **Mt. 16:18-19… **the “binding and loosning” refer to unlimited [and absoutely esental to the CC] Powers of Governance; answeringOnly to God.

1Tim.2: 4 “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”

Because of the first teaching; the second can be a reality to more souls; which is JOB #1 for our CC.

And ONLY Baptism as a sacrament can be effected in the case of TRUE Emergency by layfolk.👍
 
Melchior said:
Baptism: Anyone can baptize if the situation is dire enough. Someone got hit by a car and wants to be baptized before they die in thirty second? Find some water and get to work!

Confirmation: Bishops, although they can delegate to priests.

Eucharists: Only priests and bishops can consecrate. Deacons are ordinary ministers of Communion. Laymen can become extraordinary ministers, and can bring the Eucharist to the sick and shut-ins if they were delegated these roles. Priests, bishops, and deacons can obviously bring the Eucharist as well.

Confession: Priest and bishops only. Period, end of discussion.

Marriage: For a valid marriage, you need someone with faculties and two witnesses. Deacons, priests, and bishops fit the bill for celebrating the marriage, along with the people getting married being one man and one woman.

Anointing of the Sick: Needs to be a priest or a bishop.

Holy Orders: You need to be a bishop to confer Orders.
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If I may amend this…

Confession: Bishops can validly hear confessions. Priests that have been granted faculties by the bishop can validly hear confessions. In emergencies priests without faculties granted may validly hear confessions.

In Christ,
Zekariya
 
Zekariya said:
Confession: Bishops can validly hear confessions.
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With an exception:
Can. 967 §1. In addition to the Roman Pontiff, cardinals have the faculty of hearing the confessions of the Christian faithful everywhere in the world by the law itself. Bishops likewise have this faculty and use it licitly everywhere unless the diocesan bishop has denied it in a particular case.
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The above quoted section is why this sacrament is not valid for the SSPX; emergencies excepted.
 
PJM said:
And ONLY Baptism as a sacrament can be effected in the case of TRUE Emergency by layfolk.👍
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See below:
Can. 1116 §1. If a person competent to assist according to the norm of law cannot be present or approached without grave inconvenience, those who intend to enter into a true marriage can contract it validly and licitly before witnesses only:
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1/ in danger of death;
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2/ outside the danger of death provided that it is prudently foreseen that the situation will continue for a month.
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It was my understanding, as several priests have explained it to me, that a priest does not really “marry” anyone. A priest or deacon “witnesses” a marriage. The public vows to each other before God is what does the marrying.

Interestingly enough, it is the same for those of Jewish faith. I’ve been to many Jewish weddings, and if the congregation are mixed (not all Jewish), the Rabbi typically explains this. Husband and wife marry each other, the Rabbi merely witnesses.

My mother was Jewish and as a nurse in WWII she had the privilege to baptize several soldiers who could not wait for a priest. She took the job seriously.
 
=Zekariya;10311380]If I may amend this…
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Confession: Bishops can validly hear confessions. Priests that have been granted faculties by the bishop can validly hear confessions. In emergencies priests without faculties granted may validly hear confessions.
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In Christ,
Zekariya
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Amen! That’s the truth.

I wonder where the idea that ONLY BISHOPS can hear Confession originates:shrug:
 
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