Is there a duty to concelebrate?

[Cran]

Today, a friend got me really stumped by claiming that there exists a duty for a priest to concelebrate if he is, by his clothes, recognisable as priest (i.e. wearing a collar or a cassoc, but not only a black suit and a little cross), and that he is, in this case, not allowed to sit in the pew and participate at mass like any layman would, but that this duty does not exist if he is dressed in “normal” clothes.

She claimed as a source a Jesuit who was formerly a professor for canon law whom we both know, so it has some plausibility to it, but alas, no lawyer, canon lawor not, is infallible.

Is this true? i never heard about this duty before and it sound rather implausible to me, I mean, if a communit yof proests abides by the rule that a priest should be recognisable as such always and decide to wear cassocks everday, all of them would have to concelebrate at their community mass?!

A clarification would be much apeciated

(Note: If this is a subject the local bishop can regulate, I am living in Germany.)

 

[benedictgal]

Today, a friend got me really stumped by claiming that there exists a duty for a priest to concelebrate if he is, by his clothes, recognisable as priest (i.e. wearing a collar or a cassoc, but not only a black suit and a little cross), and that he is, in this case, not allowed to sit in the pew and participate at mass like any layman would, but that this duty does not exist if he is dressed in “normal” clothes.

She claimed as a source a Jesuit who was formerly a professor for canon law whom we both know, so it has some plausibility to it, but alas, no lawyer, canon lawor not, is infallible.

Is this true? i never heard about this duty before and it sound rather implausible to me, I mean, if a communit yof proests abides by the rule that a priest should be recognisable as such always and decide to wear cassocks everday, all of them would have to concelebrate at their community mass?!

A clarification would be much apeciated

(Note: If this is a subject the local bishop can regulate, I am living in Germany.)

Here is what Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

128.] Holy Mass and other liturgical celebrations, which are acts of Christ and of the people of God hierarchically constituted, are ordered in such a way that the sacred ministers and the lay faithful manifestly take part in them each according to his own condition. It is preferable therefore that “Priests who are present at a Eucharistic Celebration, unless excused for a good reason, should as a rule exercise the office proper to their Order and thus take part as concelebrants, wearing the sacred vestments. Otherwise, they wear their proper choir dress or a surplice over a cassock”.218 It is not fitting, except in rare and exceptional cases and with reasonable cause, for them to participate at Mass, as regards to externals, in the manner of the lay faithful.

Redemptionis Sacramentum is a universal document and, thus, is applicable in Germany just as it here, in the United States.

 

[Cran]

Thank you, fast and thorough!

But I do have the impression taht this rule is quite out of use, at least around here, but going to mass in a church that belongs to a Jesuit community and houses also the local seminary might constitute a special case.

 

[WetCatechumen]

Are the rules different for religious? I sometimes attend the campus parish at my University, and invariably there are priests in haibts who do not concelebrate. Sometimes they do not even wear the habit. Admittedly, the one who does this frequently is technically retired, and very old.

 

[benedictgal]

Are the rules different for religious? I sometimes attend the campus parish at my University, and invariably there are priests in haibts who do not concelebrate. Sometimes they do not even wear the habit. Admittedly, the one who does this frequently is technically retired, and very old.

Redemptionis Sacramentum does not differentiate between diocesan and religious priests, but, even at that point, the priests, secular or religious, should not be assisting at Mass as though they were lay faithful.