Jurisdiction

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Lormar

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Something that I have been thinking about for awhile is when the necessity of a priest having to have jurisdiction from the bishop of a diocese began in the Church.

Does anyone here have any background information?
 
Maybe I’m being dense today, but I’m a little confused: by “jurisdiction” do you mean faculties or something else? :confused:
 
I think you mean faculties. A priest has to have faculties from the Bishop to exercise his priestly ministry.

The practice of the Apostles appointing leaders in the Church instead of allowing individual Churches to appoint their own leaders goes back to the earliest records of how the Church operated, the Bible itself, in the book of Acts.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. They appointed presbyters for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. (Acts 14:21-23)

Paul and Barnabas personally appoint presbyters in the individual churches. This passage is in the section of the Book of Acts which describes the growth of the Church during the period beginning about thirteen years after the ascension until about thirty years after the ascension. Acts was written by Luke. It is our earliest record.

Paul personally chose Timothy, laid his hands on Timothy, comissioned him and later instructs Timothy by letter (1 Timothy 3) on how to choose leaders of the Church. Nowhere in the Bible are people converted to the faith and allowed to choose their own bishops, presbyters and deacons.

-Tim-
 
Timothy, thank you, but that isn’t what I am talking about. Or maybe I am misunderstanding your post.

I struggle lately with expressing myself clearly, but I will give it the old college try here.

How long in the history of the Church has it been necessary for a priest to apply to a bishop of a diocese for the faculties to validly forgive sins in confession?
 
Hello,

I’m not sure how much information you want. In a nutshell, the roots of the idea go back to the time of St. Cyprian (3rd century). The practice wasn’t the same always and everywhere but that’s apparently when it starts. Here’s a thesis on the topic. You can skim through it and glean whatever you wish instead of reading my own summary. I hope the link works for you.

academia.edu/848372/Jurisdiction_in_the_Sacrament_of_Penance_A_Canonical_-_Theological_Schema

Dan
 
Lormar said:
How long in the history of the Church has it been necessary for a priest to apply to a bishop of a diocese for the faculties to validly forgive sins in confession?
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Priests don’t actually “apply” for such faculties, which are normally granted ipso-facto with incardination or, in the case of religious, assigned service to the diocese (and yes, I know there’s a legal term for that, but it’s just not coming to me at the moment). But it does happen that faculties for confession can be withheld. This was the case with the Curé d’Ars, where the bishop thought him something of a simpleton and therefore not qualified to hear confession, although he did have faculties to offer Mass. Obviously the bishop ultimately changed his mind. 🙂

IOW, such faculties can be granted or withheld based on the Local Ordinary’s assessment of a particular priest. AFAIK, (and I could be mistaken), this is a practice of very long standing.
 
dans0622 said:
Hello,

I’m not sure how much information you want. In a nutshell, the roots of the idea go back to the time of St. Cyprian (3rd century). The practice wasn’t the same always and everywhere but that’s apparently when it starts. Here’s a thesis on the topic. You can skim through it and glean whatever you wish instead of reading my own summary. I hope the link works for you.

academia.edu/848372/Jurisdiction_in_the_Sacrament_of_Penance_A_Canonical_-_Theological_Schema

Dan
Click to expand...
Dan, it says I must be logged in to download it. :o
 
Others have mentioned Acts and elsehwere in the Bible that it is mentioned that priests (and even new Apostles like St. Paul) had to have their ministry confirmed by the Apostles and they had to be “sent”: they couldn’t do it on their own.

Here is part of a letter from St. Ignatius of Antioch which summarizes a rudimentary theology of jurisdiction:
St. Ignatius:
See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.
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newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm
 
Genesis315 said:
Others have mentioned Acts and elsehwere in the Bible that it is mentioned that priests (and even new Apostles like St. Paul) had to have their ministry confirmed by the Apostles and they had to be “sent”: they couldn’t do it on their own.

Here is part of a letter from St. Ignatius of Antioch which summarizes a rudimentary theology of jurisdiction:

newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm
Click to expand...
Genesis, thank you. That is what I was looking for.

🙂
 
Lormar said:
Something that I have been thinking about for awhile is when the necessity of a priest having to have jurisdiction from the bishop of a diocese began in the Church.

Does anyone here have any background information?
Click to expand...
There is jurisdiction and there are faculties. They’re not the same thing. People often use the terms interchangeably.

Faculties are what a cleric needs to exercise ministries:
  1. preaching,
  2. absolving
  3. ordaining
  4. confirming
In the case of absolution, if you do not have faculties, the absolution is invalid. Faculties are supplied by the local bishop, a MALE - MAJOR religious superior, or the Church.

Jurisdiction is necessary to exercise certain functions and ministries
  1. Witnessing marriages
  2. Exercising authority over another or over an institution
  3. Making law and dispensing from law
For example, a bishop has jurisdiction over all the faithful in his diocese except consecrated religious. He has the authority to command and govern deacons, priests, auxiliary bishops and laity. He cannot command and govern religious, even if they are in his diocese. While he can grant religious permission to enter his diocese and to establish houses and institutions, because he has jurisdiction over the diocese, he cannot command the religious to leave his diocese or to close their institutions, because his jurisdiction is over the diocese not over the religious. Even if a congregation is diocesan, he cannot suppress it without Rome’s approval.

A religious superior can grant faculties to a visiting priest or bishop to hear the confessions of those under his jurisdiction. He cannot grant permission for weddings, baptisms or confirmations in his chapel, because those are sacraments that must be celebrated under the diocese. The religious house is not part of the diocese.

Faculties is the power to do something.

Jurisdiction is authority over something or someone.
 
Brother, thank you. I did not know the difference between “faculties” and “jurisdiction”.

It is faculties then that I want to know the history of, and from what point in the history of our Church was the absolution in confession considered invalid without a priest having the required faculties from the local bishop to do validly absolve…
 
Lormar said:
Brother, thank you. I did not know the difference between “faculties” and “jurisdiction”.

It is faculties then that I want to know the history of, and from what point in the history of our Church was the absolution in confession considered invalid without a priest having the required faculties from the local bishop to do validly absolve…
Click to expand...
I would imagine that the canons governing faculties and the specific terminology evolved gradually over time, but the fundamental concept of the presbyter (priest) receiving his authority from the bishop seems to already be very clear in St. Ignatius of Antioch (circa. AD 107). As we saw earlier in this quote, St. Ignatius teaches that nothing in the Church is to be seen as valid unless approved by the bishop…
 
twf said:
I would imagine that the canons governing faculties and the specific terminology evolved gradually over time, but the fundamental concept of the presbyter (priest) receiving his authority from the bishop seems to already be very clear in St. Ignatius of Antioch (circa. AD 107). As we saw earlier in this quote, St. Ignatius teaches that nothing in the Church is to be seen as valid unless approved by the bishop…
Click to expand...
Yes but holy mass can be valid without faculties but confession cannot. What I would find interesting: since when is this different?
 
It’s because power of binding and loosing is tied to the authority of the Church since earliest times. The SSPX operate outside of the Church’s jurisdiction… as in, they are not authorized by a bishop in communion with the Holy Father.

An analogy would be to teaching chemistry in a college. A teacher who was fired by a college still knows his chemistry. He could tutor you in chemistry at your home and you would then have knowledge of the subject. But for him to give you a diploma in chemistry requires the authority of the college, which he can not extend to you. Same with marriages.In this way one can make an analogy to the celebration of mass vs confession. The SSPX is in the same boat as say, the Greek Orthdox church in this regard. God be with you.
 
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