Priests, Deacons, and Ordained Friars- serve in other Catholic churches on a lark

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In case someone in the clergy happened to be on vacation, or was an ordained friar on the move, or something suddenly took them away from their church’s jurisdiction, could they serve in a different parish for that Sunday without much rigmarole?

I think they’d need to show proof that they are in good standing in case they are outside the diocese, but what if they are still in the diocese?

Do the rules change between deacons and priests?

What if you’re like an ordained friar? Can you walk up to a church and just say “I’m here can I be your deacon or con-celebrate for the Mass?”?

Only asking because back when I was Catholic, I served as an EMHC in college, and I was able to serve spontaneously at my parent’s church far outside my college’s diocese. I did the same thing many years prior when I was an altar server and served spontaneously at my uncle’s parish outside my parent’s diocese.

These obviously aren’t ordained positions, but I wanted to see what stipulations were for ordained people.
 
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A member of the clergy must have permission of the local Ordinary to engage in ministry in his diocese. This is even true of another bishop. A good friend, now deceased, who was a bishop, would always ask as a courtesy if he could officiate at a wedding in another diocese, for example. I’m not sure if he did so when he was on vacation and celebrating a private Mass, but he always did so when it was a public one.
 
Regarding a priest just showing up at some parish or church other than his own and asking to concelebrate, he would need to get permission from the pastor there to concelebrate Mass. He can’t just show up and expect to concelebrate on the spot.

As for deacons, it’s my understanding they’re also assigned to a particular parish and they’re supposed to support activities there, unless there’s some special arrangement with a pastor of another parish that Deacon X from the next parish over is available to help out in a pinch.

EMHC, lector, music minister etc are not ordained positions, but I’m guessing that the pastor or priest in charge of the church probably has a blanket rule, for example “if someone has been trained as EMHC elsewhere then they can help at Mass here because we’re always in need of EMHCs”.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Regarding a priest just showing up at some parish or church other than his own and asking to concelebrate, he would need to get permission from the pastor there to concelebrate Mass. He can’t just show up and expect to concelebrate on the spot.
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Actually, most of the time, a priest CAN just show up and ask to concelebrate. If a cleric (priest or deacon) is going to be in some foreign place for a longer period of time they need documentation (previously a celebret, now a Letter of Good Standing).
Tis_Bearself said:
As for deacons, it’s my understanding they’re also assigned to a particular parish and they’re supposed to support activities there, unless there’s some special arrangement with a pastor of another parish that Deacon X from the next parish over is available to help out in a pinch.
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No, deacons are ordained for the universal Church, and can always assist, in any diocese, at any time. Simply assisting at Mass doesn’t require any delegation, and, I’ve never heard of anyone trying to impersonate a deacon. I have been to 20 or so other dioceses (some in foreign countries) and I have NEVER been asked for documentation (which I do have).

Any cleric who is traveling for a specific, delegated, purpose - like I’m going to baptize this baby, or marry this couple needs delegation to do that; which involves canonical correspondence between both dioceses / orders, and takes a little time to pre-arrange. But, if I’m just on vacation, I don’t need that, and every priest and bishop I’ve ever served with has always welcomed me with open arms and a smile, even in dioceses that don’t have permanent deacon programs.

In short:
  • Letters of Good Standing are primarily about verifying the cleric has been safe-environment trained.
  • Canonical forms granting delegation for weddings and baptisms are about liceity of the sacraments presided over.
Deacon Christopher
 
Thanks for clearing that up, but wouldn’t it be at least polite to check in with the pastor if you were an in-diocese priest?

Otherwise, anybody could just show up, say to the priest on duty, “Hey I’m a priest and I’m concelebrating Mass with you” and proceed to do so. There have been cases of phony priests, I would think at the very least the pastor would want to make sure the man is who he says he is.
 
Well, in your own (arch)diocese you know every priest and deacon. Even in the other two dioceses in Nebraska, where I live, I know every deacon and most of the priests. It would be hard to impersonate a cleric close to home.

Most priests that visit a particular place regularly (say the parish of their sister or dad) get to know the pastor, who will often invite them to take a few of the weekend Masses.

If you are visiting another state (where you’ve never been) it would be good to call the pastor and let him know you’ll be in town. This will trigger an automatic, “Oh, great to have you! Would you like to preach at Mass?” sort of response.

If you are going someone far off, and have never met the priest, I would certainly call, but again, guest priests (and even deacons) are welcomed, often give the pastor a Mass off, (or a preaching day off), etc.

Plus, at least in my experience, so many priests live alone and welcome a visit, want to have dinner with you, etc. A good amount of time I am invited to stay in the rectory, for example.
There is a special comradery among priests (and is typically extended even to lowly deacons), most priests are delighted to meet other clerics. It kind of like a “code-of-black” thing.
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In the same way, I always visit monasteries and convents, whenever I am traveling: nuns and monks love visitors, love clerics, and love swapping ministry stories.

We are always looking for a few good men,
Deacon Christopher
 
Diaconia said:
Well, in your own (arch)diocese you know every priest and deacon. Even in the other two dioceses in Nebraska, where I live, I know every deacon and most of the priests. It would be hard to impersonate a cleric close to home.
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For the sake of argument though, if a man were going to show up at a Church and impersonate a cleric, obviously he wouldn’t pretend to be a local cleric they might know. He’d pretend to be visiting from far away (after all, the premise in question is “vacation”).

Honestly I think it’d be spooky if people claiming to be clerics weren’t vetted before functioning at a new location. I hope that’s not the way it actually works.
 
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Diaconia said:
Well, in your own (arch)diocese you know every priest and deacon. Even in the other two dioceses in Nebraska, where I live, I know every deacon and most of the priests. It would be hard to impersonate a cleric close to home.
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There are over 600 secular priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (as well as a lot of priests who are with religious orders) and over 300 deacons (i did a quick count on the website) I am sure there are comparable numbers in other large dioceses.

Even if we generously assume that 1/3 of the above are retired, I cannot imagine that any one priest would know all the other active priests or deacons in his diocese on sight, although they would probably know the ones at other churches in their immediate local area.
 
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Priests gather regularly for conferences, retreats, days of recollection, and things like ordinations and the Chrism Mass. A new priest will take a little time to learn the rest of the presbyterate, but after a bit of time you will have met most of them.
Even if you don’t know the priest in question, a simple question of “where are you now?” will share a name of a priest you do know, that is also there, or was there recently. Or, “how’s Charlie doing?” (some priest in the same deanery). You could quickly ascertain if someone was an imposter.
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I know there’s an episode of MASH that has someone impersonating a priest, (and maybe an episode of Love Boat) but, I can assure you, it’s just not a common thing.

There are too many checksums built into the liturgy: vesting prayers, how to set up the Missal, exchanges and responses only the clergy use, etc.

You can’t Maguyver yourself through Mass and not get caught,

Deacon Christopher
 
The Bishop of the Diocese has to approve their ministering in that Diocese. It is different with non ordained people. At least here in Australia.
 
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Within my own diocese, I have the right to exercise my ministry at any church. Normally, I know the priest who’s church it is and so can (and do) just show up. Outside of my diocese, I’m normally known to the local priest and will often being staying with them. While I know most of the priests in my diocese, there are often religious passing through who I haven’t met and so if someone I didn’t know showed up at my church wanting to concelebrate I’d politely ask to see their celebret first. Normally, though I’d expect to get a heads up that they’re coming - if nothing else, it’s courteous!

While in theory a priest can show up at a church where he’s not known and ask to concelebrate, unless he’s personally known to the local pastor they’re going to want to see his celebret (priest ID) in order to confirm that he in in fact a priest in good standing (priest personation has happened). Previously, this used to be sufficient now no longer in a number of places - like Australia where an application needs to be made in advance and submitted via the visiting priest’s bishop. Also if a priest is going to be hanging around for a while, then something more than a celebret is required. There’s sadly been too many cases of priests showing up in a diocese without proper checks being made and it’s only when it all turns to custard that someone thinks to get in touch with the guy’s bishop who says “so that’s where he’s gone to”.

When it comes do doing more than just concelebrating (like a baptism or wedding) then the priest needs to have faculties to minister in that diocese although these can just be delegated by any priest of that diocese with full faculties. In New Zealand, all priests (but not deacons) have reciprocal faculties amongst the six dioceses
 
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