obedience?

[Kathrin]

Does anybody here now how far obedience goes for lay people?

Am I bound by obedience by anything a priest tells me?

What if I told a priest I would do things a certain way and he said yes do it that way and I later decide otherwise (this is about registering at a parish. It happened a long time ago. I said I wouldn’t do it right away but later when I am studied and settled. he thought that was a good idea. But then as a student I never got around to it, or maybe I decided it was better not to because I didn’t have money to send anyway, not more than I would give at the Sunday collection… And now that is a long time ago and I have registered at a different parish and am in a different country - my home country, actually.) Di I have any obligation to let the other priest know? Have I sinned by not registering there? Am I in any way bound to go back there now and register???

Kathrin

 

[Trishie]

Hi Kathrin, you don’t need to get back to the priest of past times. If you’re really worried about it mention it in confession. If you are feeling disturbed about it, for the moment have a talk to Jesus about it and tell Him you’re sorry if you did the wrong thing…but I suspect you used your commonsense knowledge of your situation at the time, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

 

[Kathrin]

It did disturb me… a lot… I went and talked to a priest because they had scheduled confessions today (I was at confession yesterday so I just asked if I could ask a question…)

The priest was very nice. he explained to me that obedience is only binding in confession (and only the penance) and if somebody took an oath, as in a monastery.

Kathrin

 

[Newbie2]

Yep, that’s true.

If a priest told you to…forgive me here, I’m making a point, not pointing fingers…do somthing immoral with him, as a number of priests apparently did with a number of children, then of course you would not be obilged to do so.

Your priest is quite correct about binding obedience.